The Rivalry Continues
by Julia451
Summary: Post Shades Of Gray and Haunted. Two teen superheroes. Two obsessive arch nemeses who will never leave them alone. One chance at a team up that will change everything. On indefinite/permanent hiatus. My sincere apologies.
1. Robin

"What is it?" Robin stopped in his tracks outside the med lab when he heard Raven's question. He turned back and could see his three teammates who weren't sick in bed staring at the computer screen, displaying his vital signs. Something was wrong with him, but they didn't see fit to inform him? He stepped out of view to where he could eavesdrop.

"The reagent in Slade's mask didn't trigger itself," he heard Cyborg report. "There was a signal." About a nanosecond or two later, Robin's heart stopped as he braced himself for what he knew what must be coming next. "_Somebody_ triggered it." Cyborg paused. Robin didn't stick around long enough to hear him unnecessarily add "From outside the tower," failing to stop that instant of silence that would allow the truth to set in for the Titans.

Robin walked silently and slowly down the hall to his room, trying not to moan as every step made the bruises and fractures all over his body shudder in pain. Seconds ago, he had finally accepted that Slade was gone forever, that only his obsession gave him life. He now felt the same shame all over again that he had felt upon learning that he had nearly been killed by an illusion of his arch nemesis.

His arch nemesis. That was what the evil, masked, mysterious Slade was to Robin. He had repeatedly tried to destroy an entire city, blackmailed him into being his slave, tried to kill his friends, nearly destroyed his home, and caused the death of one of his friends, all only for the purpose of making Robin's life miserable. He wasn't like the teen hero's other enemies, criminals and evildoers whom he simply stopped from hurting the innocent. Protecting others was easy; when someone was after you and only you, your job wasn't to protect but to destroy, to fight and resist, to attack first, and to defeat. Slade was within his very skin, plastered to his heart and mind even more abundantly than the walls of his bedroom. He dreamt about him at night, dwelled on him during the day, wondered during every spare moment who he really was and why he was really after him.

Yet, Robin didn't fear him. It was worse; he hated him with a deep loathing so dark and dangerous, it made him lose his mind. Tonight just had to be the night he opened that box and unleashed the dark insanity that he had let Slade make of his mind.

By the time he reached his door, he was in the mood for anything but a good night's sleep. As he stood still and stared around his walls, taking in every image he had saved of his rival, he suddenly could no longer feel the excruciating pain and exhaustion from tonight's massacre. Flashbacks echoed in his head. _I am the thing that keeps you up at night. The evil that haunts every dark corner of your mind. I will never rest, and neither will you. _He was angry, no, furious, and so ashamed. How could he have bought it? _Your friends can't see the truth, Robin. I am very real. Could you have gotten all those bruises from someone who wasn't there?_ How could he have fallen for such a classic trick so easily? Because he wanted to. He realized something for the first time since Terra's death. He had never been logically sure that Slade was alive; he had _hoped_ he was. Seeing Terra defeat him was not good enough. Unless he, Robin, defeated his nemesis himself, he might as well have fought him and lost.

And tonight he did lose. He let him invade his mind and body and demolish him from the inside out. _Already out of breath? Our time apart may have made you soft, but it has only made me stronger. _And he put up no resistance. He played right along and fought almost to the death. _You're not real. ... I'm real enough to finish you. _If Slade's new tactic was to disappear and let Robin destroy himself, it was proving effective. What if he never returned? What if Robin never got the chance he was hungering for to defeat him? He would really go insane. It was an addiction, he knew it, and he knew that Slade probably knew it and was enjoying it. Slade couldn't scare him, but the thought of him winning this battle scared him more than anything in his life. _You can't even touch me. How can you save a city, Robin, when you can't save yourself?_

He wasn't the only one in danger. He remembered what had happened next... _I have to stop him! I'm the only one who can! I'll take down anyone who gets in my way! ... I'll take down anyone who gets in my way! ... I'll take down anyone... _He would never forget that; threatening his team. When had he ever sunk so low? Hours before, of course: _Slade ran right by you! How could you let him get away? ... You're hurting me! ... How could you let him get away? ... You're hurting me! You're hurting me! _He couldn't decide which words were more painful to remember.

The Titans were right. _The more you fought, the more harm it did to you. ... And anybody else who got in the way. _But he had to fight, or he would be in Slade's power forever. He now knew for sure that his enemy was alive and still after him. _He_ would also take down anyone who got in his way. Robin's friends were in danger as long as he was. He knew that no matter what he did about Slade, they would stand by him and want to help, but he would not risk their lives, too. Nor did he want any help. He hadn't been able to let go when someone else defeated his enemy before. He couldn't let go unless he won alone.

Robin unstrapped the Titans communicator, the symbol that said he was a Teen Titan, from his belt and stared at it for a long time. He didn't speak until he had made a decision, staring at his reflection in the metal as if formally charging himself with what lay ahead. "There's only one thing to do."

* * *

"You've all had your share of arch enemies, too, so I hope you'll understand that you can't help me anymore than we could help Starfire defeat Blackfire for the throne; it would only make things worse if I don't do this by myself. I don't like it either, but this is the way it has to be. Don't worry about me. I don't know how long it will take, but I promise I'll be back." Cyborg finished reading the note Starfire found tacked to her door this morning, along with Robin's communicator. He couldn't think of anything to say. Starfire snatched the communicator from him, and cried, "We must go. We must find Robin. He is all alone, and Slade is after him, and so many terrible things could..."

"We haven't the faintest idea of where to look," Raven calmly cut her off.

"But we cannot let him run away from us to find Slade!" Starfire panicked. "He does not have the most faint idea of where to look either!"

"He's not looking for him, Star," Cyborg said. "Slade'll find him wherever he goes. He just wants to get away before anyone else gets hurt, and have some room to think, you know."

"But would he not have some destination in mind before leaving us?" Starfire continued. "There must be a way to find him! There must!"

"Think he went to Gotham City?" Beast Boy suggested. "Doesn't he have family there, or something?"

The others stared blankly at their perpetually clueless friend. "Or something," Raven answered, sarcastically. "I think that's pretty much one place we can be sure he won't go."

"So what do we do?" said Beast Boy.

"Nothing we can do," said Cyborg, moving to the window. "He's hours away by now. All we can do is wait and trust him. This is Robin we're talking about. He knows what he's doing."

* * *

Robin was not quite "hours" away. He had taken as much time as necessary to pack some clothes, weapons, and other essentials, doctor up his wounds as best as he could, and get a few hours' sleep to conserve his energy before speeding out of town on the R-Cycle. He had no plan and no destination; just an adrenaline rush to get moving and take the curse of Slade with him. "He'll follow me. He'll watch me. He'll play with me and torture me like he always has. This time, I'll be the one calling the shots. I have nothing to lose. None of my friends are in danger..." He suddenly wondered whether they would understand as well as he hoped. Sure, Cyborg had never shown more resolve than when he turned down Brother Blood's offer to serve him in exchange for his human body back, and Starfire had never fought harder or had more to lose than when she faced Blackfire one-on-one on Tamaran, and Beast Boy had hated Terra for awhile as much as he hated Slade. But... "Why does everything always happen to me?" He was angry again, and he didn't fight it. Anger is more comfortable than loneliness, after all. "None of them have an obsessive-compulsive villain breathing down their neck, and lurking just around the corner of their eye, and devoting all their time and resources to getting YOU! **I'm his hobby**! I wonder if this **has **ever happened to anyone else?" 


	2. Danny Phantom

"So, you gonna play it a little safer now that Valerie, the Ghost Slayer is around?"

"Yep," Danny answered his best friend, Sam. He didn't say more until said Ghost Slayer, who had recently made it her mission to seek out and destroy the ghost she blamed for the most unfortunate week of her life, had passed their lunch table. "Just wish I knew where she got those weapons." He could understand that Val was angry about her dad losing his job and her family losing all their money and most of their possessions, and her losing all of her friends. But since he had been trying to prevent it all, he'd decided it was okay to be annoyed with her; she was making keeping his secret identity secret, not to mention staying alive, a whole lot harder. If she could get her hands on an entire arsenal of ghost-hunting gear overnight that even outdid his professional ghost-hunting parents', who knew what secrets she had? He felt there was something creepy about this whole escapade.

"Or that costume," added his best friend, Tucker. "I mean, she's selling concert tickets to pay for trashed moving trucks. That stuff had to cost something, you know?"

"Maybe there's a Ghost Hunters Only E-Bay that we don't know about," Sam joked.

"Yeah, maybe you should ask your parents about that, Danny," Tucker added.

"My parents build all their own stuff. I mean, who else out there hunts ghosts?"

"What about that tiny bug-like guy with the glowy armor... Skulker?" said Sam.

"Yeah," said Tucker. "Now that was some serious tech. You don't find that stuff on Earth."

"Yeah... wait a minute," Danny started. He'd just thought of something that he couldn't believe he hadn't seen before.

"What?" Sam asked when he didn't finish.

"Valerie's gear: the wrist blasters, the shoulder-backpack cannon, the ectoplasma guns. Haven't we seen that all before?"

"Skulker?" said Tucker.

"What are you getting at?" said Sam, skeptically. "Valerie's only actually seen two ghosts. You don't think she's swapping weapons with..."

"Nah," said Danny. "Nothing like that. It's just... creepy."

"I could check the Internet," said Tucker. "Maybe there really is a Ghost Hunters E-Bay where Skulker gets his gear."

"I already know he designs his own stuff," said Danny. "He just gets his funding from..." He wouldn't have caught himself in time if he hadn't gasped from the idea that just came to him in a flash.

"What did you say?" asked Sam.

"Uh... sorry, what?" Danny replied nervously. Oh, no! What did he just say?!

"Dude, you okay?" asked Tucker.

"No! I mean, sure, I... I... forget I said anything." _Please, guys, just forget about it!_

"What's wrong?" Sam persisted. "You think of something?"

"I don't know," Danny sighed resignedly, half to himself. "I hope not."

"Huh?" But before Danny had to come up with a cover for Tucker's inquiry, that familiar sensation overcame him. A chill, shivering, and that tingling when you're sure someone's watching you out of the corner of your eye. He was so cold, he could see his breath. For the first and only time, he was grateful that a ghost was nearby.

His friends recognized how he froze in mid-action or sentence like pausing a video whenever he sensed a ghost, and they routinely shut up and looked around the cafeteria with him for anything weird. The only thing that caught Danny's eye was Valerie sitting down at a far table... with a box she had definitely not had before and was apparently trying to hide.

"Be right back guys." Danny wasted no time hiding or transforming but just hoped no one was watching as he took half-a-second to turn intangible and phase down through the floor. He'd have to answer more questions if Tucker and Sam watched him.

_It can't be. It's impossible,_ he thought as he floated over to Valerie. _How would he know? And anyway, why? It's not me he's after, right? Aaaah!_ He held back his scream, but it was a close call. Valerie's mystery package was clearly labeled "TO: Valerie FROM: Vlad". It was way too much to hope that this was some Vlad other than the one he knew.

Danny was halfway back to his table, still flying and still intangible, trying to think of what he could say to change to a safe subject, when the bell rang. He landed and rematerialized in a dark corner and waited until he saw Sam and Tucker leave without him. Good! The shock of his discovery might have caused him to say anything. As much as he appreciated having two sidekicks, he never planned to tell anyone what had happened after the lab accident, until the day he had to save his friends from two ghost octopusses. He couldn't let even his best friends know _this_ secret, the secret about his arch nemesis.

He'd dealt with ghosts who tried to take over his body and take his place in this world, tried to kidnap him to put him in some exotic ghost zoo, even kidnapped his best friend because she was a vegetarian or turned his other friend into a monster that nearly killed him. He just took it all in stride as part of the superhero life, tried to enjoy the excitement, and have a good laugh over it afterwards. Then he met Vlad Plasmius, another human-ghost hybrid with twenty years' more experience and a castle and a few billion dollars to show for it. The one thing his money couldn't buy (besides his favorite football team, the Packers) and he couldn't take, thanks to Danny, was Danny's mother. Apparently, he had a new interest now.

"I should've known all along," Danny scolded himself as he headed for class. He had to talk; he had to let his emotions out or they'd find a way out, like making him phase through the floor or his eyes glow green. "He sent the Ectopusses and all those other ghosts to get my dad. He must have set the whole thing up: that crazy dog, ruining Valerie's life, and pitting her against me. He sure doesn't take no for an answer easily." He remembered only too well being trapped in Vlad's lab a few weeks ago as he proposed taking him on as an evil trainee. "But what's he trying to do? Kill me? He could've done that the first time we fought. But who would go to all this trouble just because they want you to join them? Guess he has nothing better to do with his time or unlimited fortune." Danny groaned as his plight gradually sank in. "So, I have an evil, maniac stalker who's determined to make me join him, spying on everything I do, who knows every move I make. How do I know if any of the ghosts I fight in the future aren't part of his huge conspiracy? Maybe I _have_ got it wrong, and he's given up on having me but not my mom! Yeah, I wish! Oh, man, I cannot handle this!!"

It doesn't long for panic and insanity to take over when one learns that they've become a game piece on the board of the best player of the game. It took every ounce of Danny's willpower to compose himself as he sat through the rest of the day's classes. Every other minute, he looked over his shoulder or to his right or left, but paranoia felt a lot like his ghost sense. His anxiety didn't go unnoticed by everyone.

"Dude, you all right?" Tucker asked him later in study hall.

"I will be," Danny said, and firmly meant it. Now that the shock phase was over, he felt something else, too. He hadn't forgotten how Plasmius had mocked him after he'd kidnapped him. He had stopped saying the battle cry he had labeled "hilarious" because it just made him too angry. If Plasmius was really going to mess with him, he was determined to give him a good run for his money.

"Anything you wanna tell us?" Sam said suspiciously.

"Definitely not," Danny truthfully replied. He told himself he didn't think they'd believe him about meeting a villain who was obsessed with making him his apprentice, or he didn't want to put them in danger, or he couldn't adequately explain his feelings of frustration, fear, and the desire to prove himself. But he honestly couldn't tell them about his arch enemy because he was _his _arch enemy. _Sorry, guys,_ he thought. _This is something I've gotta handle on my own. You couldn't understand what it's like to be someone's **hobby**. I wonder if this has happened to **anyone** else before?_


	3. The Arrival

Robin managed to travel relatively uneventfully for almost a week. He kept to the road for the most part, pulling over into towns only to get food and train and exercise each day to keep in shape. He stopped in the woods or a park at night, built a fire, and slept outside with nothing but a sleeping bag. He purposely avoided anywhere he had ever been or might run into anybody he knew. He wanted to be alone. If he hadn't already taken the adolescent run-away-from-home-to-find-himself journey, when he moved to Jump City and became a Titan, he would have enjoyed the adventure. Two things, however, made it the lowest time of his life.

First, there was there was the mission itself. A manhunt for some lowlife criminal would have been exhilarating for the bold hero. Not this. There was little to distract him from his dark thoughts on his arch nemesis now. All day he waited for his rival to finally show his face, tried to feign being off his guard, made it obvious he was completely alone, and surreptitiously but thoroughly checked every door he opened and every object he touched for a camera, a microphone, something that Slade used to know all his movements, all the time. Absolutely nothing happened; the only result of his constant vigilance and increasing impatience and suspense was that the adrenaline consumed all his energy by the end of each day. During the intervals of total exhaustion, he'd be overcome by guilt instead as he reminded himself that it was these longings for a fight that had caused him to be susceptible to Slade's illusion in the first place.

But if he wasn't thinking about Slade, he could only think about one other thing: the friends that he missed, that he let down, that he had scared and hurt, that he had abandoned for this dangerous obsession. He hadn't felt so lonely since Slade had forced him into being his sidekick, blackmailing him with the Titans' lives. The loneliness always led him to grow angry at himself for being such a coward and, next, frightened that he found friendship such a weakness. The hero part of him tried to remind himself that it was his emotions that made him one of the good guys, but the teenaged boy side of him was strongly ashamed of them. In the end, he'd overworked his nerves for nothing because he still missed them and dreaded their thoughts toward him now, regardless.

It was only when his emotions, coupled with the slowly dulling pain of his injuries, made him very physically sick that he would drive into a town for pit stops. His only interactions with people were chiefly of buying gasoline and food. The only strangers who tried to initiate conversation with him were teenage girls. He always guiltlessly walked away like they weren't there; he didn't have the time or the mood for anything but staying strong and on the watch. There had been a few times when he almost enjoyed himself when he'd noticed an emergency like a robbery, fire, or accident and stepped in to help. For Robin, chances to help others were a blessed return to normalcy. Not that he ever lingered for the cops or cameras but leapt, swung, or drove away as soon as possible. Too bad his excitement was quickly engulfed in homesickness as he remembered his similar, earlier days as a hero. It was unfathomable but true that he could actually feel worse than when he was waiting for the ax to fall or sorry for leaving his team when he thought, "What would _he_ think if he saw me now?"

A week passed after he left town, and Robin still had not received the smallest sign or signal from Slade. He had every confidence that Slade could not leave him alone, but he suddenly doubted whether he would ever face him to fight. Surely he knew how the silent treatment tortured Robin more than the physical pain from his last battle. His anger finally ebbed as he felt slightly discouraged, which was mentally safer but emotionally worse, for him. He noticed he was approaching the city limits of a town and decided now would be a good time to pull over, despite that it was still rather early in the morning. He idly read the sign "Welcome to Amity Park", and his thoughts paused. That name sounded familiar. He hadn't been here before, had he? No, it must have been from some movie, maybe. He rode on, not bothering to waste the mental energy even to take in any scenery.

Robin followed the same routine he had for days. He parked his bike at the first fast food restaurant he saw, undaunted by the fact that its name was "Nasty Burger", ate, and filled his canteen with fresh water, loaded his utility belt with some explosive disks and other gadgets, mumbling to himself "hah, wishful thinking", and set off for a run. He tried to pay attention to his surroundings to distract him, but he passed mostly houses. Amity Park came off as a pretty small, boring town to someone who had lived all his life in big cities. The only thing that was even able to earn a second-look was a house with what looked like a factory on its roof, a factory made of metal scraps thrown together by someone with bad motor skills. Robin raised an eyebrow, whispered, "Weird," and turned around the corner.

Robin finally sat down on a bench on the sidewalk to catch his breath and have a drink of water half an hour later. "If only I could keep this up all day, I might be tired enough to miss out on any nightmares tonight," he said to himself. He talked to himself a lot lately, odd for the deep, quiet, thoughtful leader. "Once again, nothing," he went on as he carefully looked up and down the street for anything suspicious by force of habit. "I shouldn't be so surprised." Unfortunately, while he was fully on the lookout, focused on waiting for something big to happen, he heard a deafening noise, a single loud note, like an alarm. Robin instinctively jumped up and took the guard position, startled and focused, before he looked right across the street and saw a high school, students filing out to the picnic tables on the lawn. "A school bell. Get a grip on yourself, Boy Wonder. It was a school bell. … A school bell…" he repeated, with something like awe.

Without pausing to ask himself why, he strolled across the street for a closer look. The sight triggered something that had been buried inside for a long time. He watched hundreds of boys and girls his own age living inconceivably normal, peaceful lives without saying anything for awhile. Then, "I can't believe that used to be me. Spending half the day challenging my brain and showing off my skills, making new friends and meeting new girls, and the other half secretly saving the world." The old, double-life when he'd lived among civilians and had a secret identity had been so simple but still full of the adventure he craved. When he'd still been Dick Grayson half the time, he could enjoy the best of both worlds. Now, as he looked at what he'd been missing out on ever since he became a full-time Teen Titan, he suddenly missed his old life, his life before Slade. On the one hand, he would never trade being the leader and living on his own with his best friends for being the sidekick, taking orders from an adult again. Still, he suddenly missed the life of a high school student that could be chaotic and challenging but also just fun. The only fun he got as a Titan was always life threatening.

Part of Robin scolded him for being such a wimp. But his embarrassment wasn't as strong as his interest. It was a sunny but windy day; plenty of kids were eating outside but not enough to get overcrowded. Planning his course perfectly, he sprinted over to some thick bushes where no one was looking, ducked and somersaulted and grabbed a tree branch, and swung over to a second tree, higher up where he couldn't be seen even by a Hispanic girl and a tall, blond boy who were sitting directly below on the ground.

It was like sitting in the balcony of a theater. Watching it second-hand made up for missing it all, somewhat, too, just like watching an action movie odes for most people. Most of the conversations he heard were laughable, about sports, tests, and dates. If those had been his biggest problems, he would never complain again. One girl walking past immediately caught his eye, possibly due to her long mane of red hair. He heard her tell her companion, "They made _you _miss an R-rated movie- you'll live. When you have parents who are legally insane, then you'll get my sympathy. Do you have any tiny, remotely remote idea how awful it is living with parents like mine? I'd almost rather be an orphan."

"You deserve to be," Robin muttered. He suddenly got the furious urge to kick something **hard** that only Slade usually provoked in him.

Sitting at the table nearest him were three kids talking close together in low whispers like they were trying to avoid being overheard: a boy with stunningly bright blue eyes and raven black hair just like Robin's, an African-American boy with glasses and a red beret, and a girl with thick black hair, black boots, violet-tinted contacts, and an overall style that definitely reminded him of someone. Someone apparently said something they shouldn't have because the blue-eyed boy jumped up, screamed, "Okay! That does it! Just what are you getting at?" at his obviously bewildered friends. Then, as quickly as if someone flipped an off switch, all three of them fell silent and froze, except for their eyes which were darting in all directions, in a way Robin recognized only too well.

"What the…" but he trailed off as the boy abruptly ran from the table out of sight. His friends went back to their food, no, hurried back to it, like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "Okay… that was strange." Robin was distracted by a rustle of movement to his right. The blond boy in a letter jacket was now standing up, tossing a football up and catching it a few times before waving good-bye to the girl. The posse he went back to looked at the two of them enviously. Robin couldn't find anything the least interesting or pretty about her, but he didn't have time to think before he saw a bright flash of light and heard an ear-splitting scream.


	4. The Meeting

"What in the…" Robin was struck speechless by the sight below him. Something in glowing blue and silver, very high-tech, metal armor, afire with green flames, had materialized out of nowhere, frightening the boy and girl out of their wits. Heads in the near and far vicinity soon turned at the commotion, and pandemonium instantly took over as students and teachers ran for their lives. (After a few months of one attack, explosion, and bizarre occurrence after another, they'd learned to recognize a ghost when they saw one, even if Robin hadn't, yet).

"Good idea," said Tucker, jumping up and preparing to follow suit. However, Sam hadn't moved an inch before Skulker suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder. "Sam!"

"Hey! Let me go!" she yelled, shaking herself free and backing up.

"You're coming with me, human!" her captor said, aiming his left wrist at her as it turned into some kind of blaster.

"Please," said the Goth in her typical sarcastic tone. "Like you can use any of that ghost stuff on me." Apparently, she was wrong. After one shot, she found herself encircled a few times, tightly, with a green rope, and Skulker holding a glowing sword to her throat. "That's new."

"Hah! At last! Success! The master will be very pleased when he sees that I finally, actually…" The ghost hunter was cut off in mid-disbelief by an explosion and cloud of smoke that shook his grip on the girl. Sam and Tucker were just as surprised when they saw a tall and slender teenage boy in a mask, cape, and tights somersault out of the tree above them, throwing a disfigured, sharp, red boomerang in mid-leap that cut the rope.

"You okay?" said Robin, as he helped Tucker help Sam to her feet.

"I guess," she started, "But… LOOK OUT!"

Without turning his back to look, Robin managed to shield the three of them with his cape just in time to prevent them being blasted to smithereens by an energy blast.

"Run for it! Now!" he ordered as he unsheathed his bow staff and turned to face his opponent.

"Who are you?" Tucker insisted.

"Never mind! Just get out of here! Hurry!" Robin answered, at the same time reflecting two blasts with his staff and leaping aside before throwing another disk bomb. It knocked the well-protected ghost back off his feet but didn't leave any damage.

"This is serious!" said Sam. "Come on! We gotta find Danny!"

Danny was having a very strange experience back behind the school. He knew Plasmius' vultures operated as his hit-men, so he expected them to be after him. But they didn't seem to want to hurt him as much as confuse him, dodging his energy blasts, hiding by turning invisible and intangible and reappearing behind his back, and getting his attention while the others temporarily vanished… he felt like a cat trying to catch a string someone was dangling just out of his reach.

"Sorry, guys! Game over!" And with a surge of adrenaline, he put on a burst of speed quick enough to finally land a blow. One of his opponent's partners finally went on the offensive, plowing him into the ground with a head-butt too rapidly for him to turn intangible.

"What is your deal?" he said as his three attackers circled in the air above him. "You trying to bore me to death?"

"Danny!" Danny turned to see Tucker rushing his way, Sam close behind him.

The vulture closest to Danny suddenly halted and said, "Oh, no! Complications! Abort mission! Repeat: retreat, retreat!" The birds flew off at top speed, turning invisible when they reached the height of the roof.

He didn't look hurt, so Sam wasted no time. "Danny! You've gotta come quick! You won't believe what just happened!"

"What?" Danny replied as rose into the air. He followed his friends back to the front lawn and, as Sam predicted, could not believe what he saw. A boy about his own height and age, in the weirdest, flashiest costume he'd ever seen, battling his old enemy, Skulker, with a bow staff and the agility and martial arts skills of a circus star. "Guys, am I seeing things, or what?"

It was quite a show to see; Robin jumped, dodged, kicked, and aimed his staff and projectiles as expertly as he always did, the ever increasingly excruciating pain of his old wounds completely forgotten. He only knew one way to fight: with every fiber, every muscle, every nerve focused on the attack and defense, the imminent task the only thought recognized by his brain. At one point he somehow lost hold of his staff; he turned a back flip, produced two bird-a-rangs while still in mid-air, and had formed a sword with them before hitting the ground. Unfortunately, nothing appeared able to penetrate Skulker's armor, and the sword applied less impact force than the staff. While bracing for a second strike, he got hit by a blast in his left side, leaving a stinging burn.

The three members of his audience gasped. "Danny, do something!" Sam yelled.

"Like what?" Danny said. "You really want to interrupt them?" No fight he had ever been in had been this hardcore.

"You fool!" Skulker laughed. "I don't know who you are, but you should have minded your own business! No average human can defeat the greatest hunter in the entire Ghost Zone!"

"I may be human, but I'm anything but average!" Robin furiously exclaimed, removing his hand from hiswound as he jumped up for a flying kick. In less than the time he could have blinked, with just a flash of white, Skulker vanished. Robin, quite unprepared for this, hit the ground hard.

Robin righted himself and turned around at the sound of loud laughter to find his opponent standing exactly where he had been an instant ago.

"How can you… What are you…" He suddenly had a creepy feeling of déjà vu that rather staggered him.

"You didn't figure it out until now? I am a ghost! To you humans, I'm invincible!"

"This is getting serious." Danny's voice trailed off as he vanished.

Robin and Skulker were circling each other, on guard. Now he was really stunned. "A ghost?" he muttered to himself. The hunter landed a lightning-fast punch that almost knocked him out cold. Pushing himself over the limit, he twirled back up, but Skulker turned intangible again just before he made contact. He reappeared and sent Robin flying again, the scene looking more and more familiar to him. He tried to ignore the dizziness as he stood up, panting.

"Ha, ha, ha. You can't even touch me," said Skulker.

"But I can," came a voice, apparently with no source. The next thing Robin knew, he was kneeling on the grass, clutching his fresh, bleeding burn, trying to stay conscious, as a boy in a black jumpsuit with snow-white hair and glowing green eyes appeared behind Skulker, firing a green blast of energy, like Starfire's starbolts, from his hand.

"No! Not you!" the ghost hunter yelped in blatant shock and terror. "Now everything's ruined again!" He raised his wrist and fired what looked like bright blue wires that encircled the flying boy and pinned him down. "Until next time, Ghost Boy. Oh, and 'Greetings' from a _certain person we both know_."

He rose and turned invisible at the same time. The energy field disintegrated, so Danny assumed he had left for good for now. He rushed with Tucker and Sam to the injured vigilante.

"Are you all right?" Danny asked as he and Tucker helped him to his feet.

"I've been worse," Robin replied, trying to sound as normal as possible. He was in no mood for this; he'd just lost a battle, gone to pieces, once again, simply over thoughts about Slade. He waited until his dizziness passed and stepped away from the boys.

"Who are you?" asked Danny.

"I haven't told anyone that for a long time. For the past few years, everyone has known me only as Robin."

"Robin," said Sam, "Thanks for saving me back there."

"You're welcome," he answered in a monotone as he picked up and separated his bird-a-rang-sword.

"So… you from around here?" Tucker asked.

"Just passing through." Robin didn't break his monotone as he walked over to his dropped bow staff.

"Where are you from?" said Danny.

"No where," said Robin, collapsing and pocketing his staff.

"Where you heading?" asked Sam.

"No idea." He started to walk away.

"What? Are you running away from home or something?" Danny said.

"You could say that," answered Robin, holding back a wince. Just when he'd felt the best he had all week, he was starting to ache all over like he'd only escaped death by a hair all over again. Maybe he had. "I don't have any more time, but I'm glad I could help," he added, still walking away.

He crossed the street and turned right, then left around the corner, in the direction of the park. "That was definitely 11 on a weird scale of 1 to 10," said Sam.

"Hey," Tucker began, "It's over, everybody's pretty much okay, and they'll probably cancel school again while the cops come over, search the place, and accuse the administration of insurance fraud again. Weird stuff happens to us, Sam. Weird is pretty much normal."

All this time Danny was looking after Robin with an inquisitive expression on his face. "So you guys really think this was just a coincidence?" he said.

"You have a specific theory?" inquired Sam.

"No," said Danny. "But I've got a bad feeling about this."

* * *

Just above their heads, the invisible Skulker hovered, holding a video camera. Miles away, in the most advanced surveillance room imaginable on the fifth floor of a stone castle in Wisconsin, the images of the mysterious brave vigilante, who had been in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time for a certain someone's plan, were replaying over and over as the viewer tried to study this anomaly of a boy. "Hmm. It appears we have a new friend in town," sounded a chilling menacing voice to no one in particular. "For your sake, Robin, whoever you are, you'd better not stay long."

* * *

Back in Amity Park, after his third and longest bout of lightheadedness, Robin finally decided that he was too hurt to risk riding for the rest of the day. He left his motorcycle parked, but took his packs of supplies while he went back to the park he'd run through earlier to find a place to spend the day and, later, the night. He settled down in a small nook he found between some bushes and a tree to bandage his burn and cuts as best as he cared to, ate a little and drank a lot of water, and tried to do the one thing that he always, with no exception, failed dismally at: relaxing. His thoughts were so full of what he'd seen today and of the shame at the feelings of fear that a ghost wrought in him, that for once, he didn't feel the eyes that were on him, through a concealed camera that with all his searching and observation, he would never find.

"Quite an ordeal you went through, today, Robin. Quite an ordeal." The viewer returned with the push of a button to a scene showing a boy dressed in black appearing and pummeling the ghost he seen yet earlier tried to kidnap a young girl. "This just may be the greatest discovery you've ever made. Let us hope you're foolish enough to wait around, for once."

Completely pre-occupied and unaware, Robin, too, was reliving his strange encounter in his head. "I never found out who that kid who helped me was, or where that ghost came from, or why he was after her…" It was his policy to help and leave, to make sure no one got hurt, not to form bonds with everyone he crossed paths with. But something in his gut told him that this was different. "I've got a really bad feeling about this."


	5. The Discoveries

"As soon as I saw the ghost, I ran. I didn't see anything, but Allison swears that she saw some martial arts expert in a cape _and_ mask appear out of nowhere just as it grabbed someone! She couldn't see much because of the crowd but…"

"Jazz, all I'm getting is that your friend must be a hardcore comic book fan who's slightly touched in the head," Danny said in desperation at breakfast the next morning. His sister used to try to forget nothing harder than her parents' fixation with ghosts. Lately, she couldn't seem to talk about them enough with Danny. At least twice a day, she recalled the latest sightings at school that day, speculated on what the ghost of that day was and where they came from, hounded Danny about what he'd seen, too, and always ended with some speech about how she was starting to change her mind and found ghosts "fascinating, but not necessarily frightening. I mean, I know I freaked out that one time the new school therapist turned out to be a demonic spirit, but I don't have anything against ghosts in general."

"Well, kudos," Danny snapped. He backed up from the table and picked up his backpack. "I'm outta here. See you later… much later."

"Wait!" Jazz jumped up and ran for her purse on the counter. "I'm not in a hurry this morning. I could drive you!"

"No, you can't!" Danny called back quickly. "I'm… meeting Tucker on his street, first!"

"You guys never walk together," Jazz said as she came to the door. "You always meet at school."

"Not today!" Danny ran for his life before she stopped him again. Jazz had not only turned overly-communicative recently but into an overprotective body guard. _What is her deal these days? What if?… … Nah._

Once a safe distance was between him and the house, he slowed down and walked, thinking about yesterday's strange battle, not only about the masked stranger who had appeared and vanished just as strangely but about what he couldn't discuss with Tucker and Sam. His run-in with the vultures had been ridiculously pointless, but occurred at exactly the same time _another_ one of Vlad's ghosts showed up. "It had to have been a distraction. But from what?" What was even more suspicious was that Valerie had run with everyone else when Skulker appeared; maybe she just hadn't been interested since she hadn't seen Danny Phantom there. He surprised himself that he was hardly concerned about her, aside from keeping his secret safe; he spent eight hours a day, five days a week, around her, after all, and she was only getting closer to him now that she and Tucker were dating. "But she doesn't know who I am, and she doesn't really know who she's after. This is all connected, and Plasmius is the only one behind all of it." Why did every ghost choose Amity Park to start theri take-over-the-world campaign or stir up as much mischief as possible? There was only one connection. The alarm went off: he shivered as his blood ran colder and colder and his breath came out in icy blue clouds.

"Oh, great! I better not be late for school _again_." In a rush to get whatever battle was ahead of him over with, Danny took the shortest glances around himself, saw the coast was clear, and transformed into his black-and-white ghost mode. As he was rising into the air, scanning for disturbances, his ghost sense faded as swiftly as it came. "Huh? That's never happened before." He circled above the ground for a few seconds, still on guard. He didn't sense the ghost again, but he heard some movement in the trees lining the sidewalk, far down the street. He turned invisible and flew over. The noises stopped just as he got close, and he still wasn't sensing a ghost. "Great," Danny groaned as he landed and turned human again. "A false alarm. I didn't even know I _had_ false alarms."

His complaints were abruptly stopped when something came hurtling toward him from behind like a baseball. He ducked at the sound, but he needn't have bothered; the small, round, silver projectile landed about five feet to his right. "What the…"

* * *

"Who are you? What is the meaning of this?" Skulker demanded of the masked, fully-armored stranger who had just snuck up on him and forced him away from his quarry.

"I've been watching you watching this ghost-boy for the past twenty-four hours," Slade answered in his standard slow and soft monotone. "From the first time I saw him, I felt this situation warranted further study. Now, I find my observations to be very interesting." He paused for emphasis. "Very interesting."

"What do you know about…"

Slade continued as if the ghost hunter hadn't said a word. "You've tracked him to his school, all around town, and to his home. My radar has shown surveillance expertly concealed almost everywhere." Slade turned and nonchalantly began pacing around the trees hiding the two from view. "The only spy I've ever met who was so thorough was… me."

"It seems there has been some mistake. I…"

Slade continued. "I don't make mistakes. I know exactly what is going on. All I need from you is information."

"I don't have time for this. I have my orders…"

"Trust me, I've givenyour young friendsomething to hold his attention for awhile. I may have a business proposition for someone, if they want the same thing I want. Just tell me: Who do you work for?"

* * *

"Very average, very harmless, very unoriginal CD… or a DVD, I guess."

"Still a very weird and very unorthodox way to send a message." These were Sam's and Tucker's comments as they sat with Danny in the school's computer lab during break, passing around the disk that Danny had picked up that morning.

"What did you expect in the 21st century?" Tucker added next. "A message in a bottle?"

"I tried running it this morning before class," said Danny. "I highly doubt anybody _wanted_ someone to see this, or they wouldn't have encrypted it."

"So, why are we trying to un-encrypt something not meant for our eyes?" asked Sam, as Tucker inserted the disk.

"Because I know I sensed a ghost this morning that must've just left right away," explained Danny. "And because the only reason someone tries to hide something is because they've got something to hide."

"They didn't try hard enough," said Tucker, who had been typing and mouse-clicking and reprogramming via his connected PDA for the past five minutes. The techno genius's efforts had, apparently, paid off. A message and progress bar appeared announcing "UPLOAD IN PROGRESS- 15". "Find a file I can't hack into, and miracles do happen."

"Note to self," said Sam. "Never keep digital diary."

"You have a diary?" said the boys together.

"What?"

"Hey, we got something," said Danny, turning back to the computer.

"We got a video," said Tucker. "I'd say homemade, recorded via webcam…"

"Or an action movie with a high budget for stunt doubles, low budget for cameramen," said Sam. The scene the three were watching took place in nearly total darkness, but they could make out two people locked in fierce, evenly-matched, hand-to-hand combat. The camera was high above the action and stationary; the combatants often moved out of the frame. One was tall and either very muscular or dressed in a thick, solid suit. The other was shorter and either faster or panicking and wore a long cape.

"Hey," said Danny, pointing him out, "He look familiar to you?"

"He does now," said Tucker as the scene abruptly switched to new footage, recorded closer and at eye level, of another battle, indoors. (Actually, the walls looked more like the inside of a circuit board). Pairs of opponents appeared to be clashing in all corners, but the person who quickly caught their eye was…

"Robin?" said Sam, curiously.

"I knew I recognized those moves," concluded Danny.

"Hmm…" Tucker typed a little here, clicked a little there. "Check this out."

"Looks like the menu," said Danny.

"Everything on this disk is candid camera footage?" asked Sam as Tucker began playing various recordings in turn.

"Correction," added Danny. "Candid camera footage of Robin." It was unmistakably the same boy, in the same costume, riding a ferris wheel watching fireworks with a red-haired girl, practicing some kicks in a gym, but mostly fighting for his life against a monster made of stone, of dark purple gooze, or a blonde girl with a chilling, murderous look in her eye.

"Ah-hah!" Tucker said, unexpectedly, freezing the current image.

"What?" asked Danny.

"Check this out," the computer genius answered as he zoomed in on a battle taking place on the roof of a building in a busy city at night.

"Who are they?" Danny wondered as he watched the four different attackers ganging up on the movie star.

"And what are you doing?" asked Sam.

"Look. There's a sign on top of that building."

" 'WAYNE'," said Sam. "So?"

"So, a quick visit to Google, cross-reference with addresses," Tucker explained, all the time typing away, "and we now know that we are looking at the Wayne Enterprises building of Jump City. And since all these exterior shots take place in the same city…" he continued as he displayed them all on the screen.

"I get it," said Danny. "That must be where he's from."

"So what is he doing here?" questioned Sam.

* * *

"He did say he was running away," Danny wondered aloud as the trio walked home after school.

"_He_ didn't say that," Sam reminded him. "You said that, and then he said you _could_ say that."

"Close enough," said Tucker.

"Well, we still don't know why," Sam replied.

"Now we know he's a superhero," said Danny. "Who's been in **a lot** of action. Maybe he made one too many enemies. Maybe his life was in danger."

"You're saying what?" Tucker put in. "Somebody has a hit out on him?"

"Somebody definitely wants to know everything they can about him."

"He said he was leaving town. What're you gonna do?" Sam pessimistically pointed out.

"Maybe I don't have to _do_ anything," Danny said, speaking up as the sound of an approaching motorcycle grew louder and louder. "But he did help us out. I mean, what if he needs help?"

"Careful, Danny," Sam said, with a smile and the air of a joke in her voice. "Remember what happened to Harry Potter when he started thinking like that."

"What did you say?" Tucker screamed over the now deafening noise.

"I said," Sam screamed even louder, "Remember what happened to Harry Potter when…"

"What?" the boys yelled, together. The engine noises continued to grow painfully louder. Everyone on the streets, including the teens, were holding their ears and groaning in annoyance.

"Okay, I'm no expert, but who else doesn't think this is normal!" Tucker screamed into the din.

"It must just be a really powerful bike!" Sam struggled to make herself heard.

"It's ridiculous!" screamed Tucker.

"It's Robin!" Danny exclaimed as he looked up. "What the…"

Robin was speeding down the street on a red motorbike unlike any they'd ever seen before and appeared to be trying to shake off two giant ghost serpents that were chasing him and trying over and over again to cut him off. He tried occasionally throwing a sharp red weapon or firing a laser from the front of his motorcycle, but, of course, they went right through the ghosts.

"Now that's weird," said Sam as Danny transformed, perfectly safe since all eyes were on the barraged rider.

"Be back in a flash," Danny said as he took flight. "But just in case, stand by to make my alibis, please!"

"Yes, sir!" Tucker yelled back in jest, as Danny flew off in pursuit.

"Why are these things after me?" Robin wondered to himself as he made a speedy, sharp 180 degree turn in another attempt to lose his pursuers. This was the third time he'd been sneak-attacked today. The first few ghosts he'd been able to take down, or at least send flying away in fear, but more kept coming. He had hoped the R-Cycle would give him an advantage this time. "How can you fight something you can't touch?" he said in exasperation as another bird-a-rang passed right through his temporarily intangible target. "I, if anyone, should know the answer to that."

Robin sped up as much as the bike could take, but the flying serpents kept coming. "This trick will only work once. Better make it count." He hit the brake as hard as he could, maybe even harder, and the ghosts sped on, not noticing that he had stopped. "Now where… Darn it!" Before he could find a turn to make, the ghosts were heading his way again.

"Yo, Vigilante! Need a hand?"

Robin turned around to see hovering above him the same ghost from the schoolyard yesterday. As he turned back to the serpents, he hit the gas, and moved to the right, out of the line of fire. "You said it, not me."

Danny hit one snake with an energy blast before they even got close, but the second one managed to dodge it and turn in mid-air to knock him into the ground. He took a second to regain himself before turning intangible and phasing down and out. Both ghosts followed him. They returned, visible, on far opposing sides of Robin like they'd taken opposite directions. Danny reappeared behind the one in front of Robin.

"Tag," Danny exclaimed as he hit the serpent with the beam from the Fenton Thermos. "You're it!"

"Impressive," Robin said as the ghost vanished in a bright blue tornado.

"Behind you!" Robin backflipped up clear of his bike, losing his helmet in the process, in just enough for the last charging serpent to miss him. It knocked Danny out of the air, all but stunning him, and dragged him back up, higher, wrapped in its coils, dropping him before he had time to react. Robin took advantage of its lack of attention on him to finally hit it with a freeze disk. One explosion, and the agent slowly took effect until the ghost fell to the ground in a block of ice.

Robin ran over to Danny. "You okay?"

"I've been hit harder." But that wasn't the problem. His head was pounding, various limbs were throbbing with pain, and the threat was gone. As Danny subconsciously let go of his urgency, his adrenaline flow shut off, and he powered down in mid-sentence.

Danny gasped in alarm. "Oh, no!"

Robin leapt back in astonishment. "Oh, my gosh!"


	6. The Alliance

"You're…. human? But I thought…"

"Close, but only half right," Danny miserably answered as he got to his feet.

"You're human… _and_ a ghost?" Robin repeated. "I've seen one or the other, but this is a new one."

Danny was confused; he could tell from his tone that Robin was skeptical and interested but, "Um, how come you're not freaking out?"

Robin crossed his arms and actually smiled. "My best friends are either an alien, a half-robot, human one minute and a lion or a dinosaur or a hawk or a tapir the next, and… actually, I'm _still_ not sure just what Raven is. I wouldn't have been so freaked out yesterday if I hadn't had a recent…" He frowned as he searched for the correct word and stiffened up like he was about to get a shot. "… _traumatic_ experience with a ghost." Danny was about to say something, but Robin turned around and kept talking as he walked over to his bike. "I suppose you'll tell me that you're lucky if you only have one every day, so I can't talk, but trust me, I mean more than what I say." He righted his motorcycle and leaned over as if inspecting for damages.

"Well, you're deep," said Danny. "And perceptive."

"It's the mask," said Robin, still not looking at him. "People are more at their ease and easier to read when they can't see that I'm reading them."

"Who taught you that?"

Robin stood still and appeared to be in deep thought, as apparent as possible when one couldn't see his eyes. "My father," he answered in a slow undertone.

"You had to think about that?"

Robin hurriedly turned back to his vehicle. "You did your good deed, you saved me. Why are you still here?" he whispered bitterly.

"Well, now that you mention it," answered Danny, coming closer and crossing his arms, "There is something I'd like to know."

Robin put a hand to his forehead. "Oh, great. How long is it gonna take me to fix that?" Then he acknowledged Danny, in his standard mature, occupied, dignified voice. "I don't talk to strangers."

His whole unflappable-overly-mysterious routine was getting on Danny's nerves. "Hey, you know my darkest, innermost secret!" Robin finally looked at him, just as he uncontrollably turned intangible and back again. _Guess Jazz Super Psychologist was right, _thought Danny. _Lying makes you nervous._

Robin couldn't stop himself from gawking. If there was one emotion that he ever felt more powerfully than rage, it was curiosity. His mentor had honed and nurtured his investigative, probing side as much as his persistent side to make him a great detective. "What'd you do that for?"

"I didn't. It just, you know, happens!"

"You can't control your powers?"

"Not all the time. What are you staring at?"

"Sorry. I just…" Robin tried to ignore the memories that had gently risen to the surface of the last person he'd known who couldn't control her powers, and the sympathy he felt for this kid. Of course, the more you deny your feelings, the stronger they get. Robin sighed; there was no use denying what he wanted to know. "If you don't mind, what did this to you?"

"Freak lab accident," Danny answered with contempt at the memory of the moment that had turned his life upside down. "There's an explosion, I pass out, I wake up with snow white hair and glowing green eyes."

"I should've guessed. I've got to admit, I'm impressed. I can't believe that you can't control it, and you've still managed to keep this a secret from your friends, your parents…"

"Well, it's not easy when your parents are professional ghost hunters. Wait a minute. How'd you know…"

"It's a secret? Been there, done that… a long time ago."

"Actually, my two best friends do know. Not that I had a choice. Wait a minute, again!" The more Danny talked to Robin, the more confused he got. "You're running away, and you're not worried about anyone getting suspicious if nobody knows you're a superhero?"

"I said that I've _done_ the secret-identity thing. I used to have two lives and two names, just like yours. Now, I live and work fulltime with my friends, the Teen Titans." Seeing another question coming, Robin took a deep breath and continued. "My parents both died years ago. My guardian was the one who taught me the secrets of the superhero trade. Then we had a falling out; I thought I could handle the life, but he didn't, so I had to set off on my own."

"Uh…" Danny was stunned. He felt bad for just assuming that Robin operated the way he did. He never would have guessed all this about him. "I thought you didn't like to talk?"

"Like you said, I do know _your_ innermost secret. But I don't know your name."

"Danny. Danny Phantom when there's a ghost around. By the way…"

"I don't know a thing," said Robin, putting up his hand, in the style of taking an oath.

"Thanks," Danny sighed with relief. "The last thing I want is for _anyone_ to know _any_thing."

"Guess I was wrong about this town. Action-packed enough to need a vigilante, apparently."

"I wish." Robin got the wrong impression about him, too, but, like Robin, he really did not want to go into details.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Okay," he steeled himself. "It's like this: Everyone else in town is only in danger if they get caught in the cross-fire."

Robin was, indeed, perceptive enough to understand. "I get it. They're all out to get you, and other chaos happens of its own accord. Know the feeling." Robin didn't like where the conversation was heading. He picked up and shouldered his pack to make his damaged bike lighter to push.

"Where're you going?"

"Look at this thing. Doesn't look like I'm going anywhere for at least a few hours."

Danny suddenly remembered the disk that had gotten him so anxious earlier. "Look, before you skip town, there's something I think you should know."

Robin's impatience suddenly outgrew his civility. He gave himself leave to vent as long as he kept his tone down. "Listen, this isn't my way. This was just going to be a pit stop for a bite to eat. I stop, I leave. I don't make friends. I don't exchange names. I don't stay. I have a project I've been delaying for way too long. **Nothing** can hold me up. This is why I hit the road in the first place; it's the only place where I can guarantee I'll be alone. As far as you're concerned, I was never here."

"But…"

"I was never here." Robin willed himself not to groan at the pain in his sore, bruised arms a she started pushing his bike away.

"Geez, why was I so concerned?" Danny said to himself as he headed home in the opposite direction. Robin may have a mask, but Danny also knew how to keep secrets and cover things up. He didn't said that because he was angry (mildly frustrated with inquisitiveness would be more accurate), but because he realized he didn't need to inform Robin of anything. "He knows."

* * *

Miles away, two shadowy figures stood across from each other, negotiating in a paradox of a room with the design and architecture of a medieval castle but full of computers, monitors, satellites, and other technology of the twenty-first century. A man with white hair, dressed in a fine-looking suit, was closely examining a cracked metal badge emblazoned with a single letter 'R'. "I will admit, he's… talented. But I hardly find him so interesting. He's so…" He seemed to be looking for a way around saying the word for those he had such contempt for. "… human."

"Appearances can be deceiving," said the masked voice of ice, opposite him. "It's his stamina, his perseverance, his fearlessness, his solidarity that make him so strong. Never judge a hero by his powers."

His companion began speaking about a completely different subject, no introduction or closure necessary. "His potential is as infinite as mine. With my experience and his skills, I could give him the world! But he'd rather risk his life every day to anonymously **protect** this world! I make his secret even more endangered, provide him with the perfect opponent to train him, but he's too 'noble', too 'valiant' to change!"

The two began pacing around in concentration and suppressed rage as the masked plotter took over. "Every time, I come so close to breaking him. He always resists, always escapes, never winning but never losing. I cannot kill him. I cannot convince him. I will never rest until I do. He _will_ be mine."

"Twenty years ago, I learned that I no longer had to lack _anything_ ever again. Nothing that I want will escape my grasp, even the Packers, eventually! And I don't want him because he's the only thing standing between me and the love of my life. He thinks he's won, that he's beyond my control and my power! He has to learn that no one can say no to me!" His rage finally boiled over; there was only one way to release it. The man blinked as he was engulfed in light and emerged in a completely different form, pale with glowing red eyes. "But what can you do for me?"

"You have already told me your latest plan," answered his masked guest as they reconverged, face to face. "I can get past this unexpected obstacle much better than your clumsy henchmen. And you can get in to the most secure facility in the world for me and fetch me the one thing that will make me impossible to reject."

"This whole plan depends on your charity case remaining in Amity Park and the two of them staying in contact. From what I've seen, he does not plan to stay long."

"There is about to be a change of plans. I can arrange that."

"Then we have a deal."

* * *

Robin worked as fast as he could in his nook in the park, tuning the R-Cycle up to perfection. As interesting as it was to meet a ghost, as exciting as a town this turned out to be, as depressing as it was to think of a kid who had to keep his night life a secret even at home, nothing could shake his craving for answers and a victory, his mania for facing his arch nemesis. All he wanted, all he cared about, all that mattered anymore was Slade. Robin was at the point where he was so consumed, there was no room, time, or energy to be ashamed of himself.

"This is taking too long!" he growled as he threw down a screwdriver in his fever. "I've got to get out of here now! I've got to get going I've wasted too much time already I can't take this anymore What am I going to do now What am I going to do" he ranted on and on as he pulled his hair, threw harmless sharp-edged disks as hard as he could, and punched the tree out of pique. At the height of his frenzy, he unsheathed his bow staff and started beating it with all his might. Who knows how long he could have gone on if he hadn't gotten beat over the head so hard he fell to his knees.

Robin took a deep breath and looked at what had fallen on the ground from above him. He gasped; he'd been expecting it for so long, but expecting even more never to be satisfied. The sight filled him with so much adrenaline, it took him half-a-second to decide what to do next. He punctured through the lens of the wireless camera with his staff, tucked them both in his belt, and ran off for help.

* * *

Danny's thoughts might not have been uncontrollably focused on his stalker like Robin, but he still looked over his shoulder every five minutes, jumped at every loud noise, and looked out every window and opened door of a room whenever he entered, just like he had for days. Only that day's math homework was able to distract him enough for someone to throw something through his closed window without him noticing until after the fact.

He almost went ghost at the sound of the breaking glass, but kept it to a scream. Just as he was about to chide himself for panicking over a baseball, he spotted the round, metal badge on his floor. "This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder," he said as he picked up and turned it over. It was emblazoned with a single letter 'S'.


	7. The Moment of Truth

"Sorry, Danny. I ran the symbol through every database I could think of. No clue anywhere," Tucker updated his friend through his computer screen.

"Me neither," Sam added from her screen. "And considering how my dad has stock in every business on the planet and a few space stations, I probably checked even more sources."

Danny picked the badge up from off his desk. He had called Tucker and Sam for, so far only futile, help figuring out where it could have come from. "I don't get it. It's like someone's trying to tell me I'm being watched, but why be so obvious if you're gonna be so secretive?"

"Could be reverse psychology," Sam suggested. "The more cryptic they make things, the deeper you dig, and walk into the trap much faster."

"Ri-i-ight," Tucker said, trying not to laugh.

"Hey," Sam struck back, "You've seen enough espionage-mafia movies to know that when the masked bad guy jumps the spy, puts a knife to his throat, and says 'Stay out of my way!', that's the last thing he expects him to do."

"Exactly," said Tucker. "It would take a true criminal mastermind to go to all that trouble."

"And Danny's made his share of enemies," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, crazy ghosts who want to hypnotize every teenager in the world into buying their CDs or to trash the city with boxes," Tucker retorted. "You don't know a rich, creepy crook with connections to the underworld, do you, Danny?"

Danny pulled out the most neutral answer he could think of. "Well, what do you think? What was that?" He'd just heard noises right outside his bedroom window, like footsteps on the wall. It couldn't have been an invisible ghost because he wasn't sensing anything. The tapping and bumping got louder until he saw someone hanging from a rope outside.

"What the heck…"

"Danny, what's going on?" Sam asked.

"I'll get back to you on that." Danny left the computer on but turned the monitor off before going to meet Robin at the window. "Are you crazy or what? What in the world do you think… you're… doing?" Danny's voice trailed off as he first took in the strange scene of a boy hanging from his roof by a hook and a cable.

"I get around like this all the time," Robin answered plainly, keeping a grip on the cable attached to his belt with one hand. "If you couldn't fly, I'd recommend it."

"How did you know where I live?"

"You told me your parents study ghosts and that you got your powers from a lab accident. I added the two up and remembered this place. I thought it looked like it was owned by unorthodox scientists," Robin explained.

"And you didn't notice the front door, how?" Danny asked.

"You could explain why a stranger in a mask and cape with a utility belt full of weapons showed up on your doorstep?" Robin said, sarcastically.

"Good point."

"So, can I come in, or what?"

"What are you doing here, anyway?" asked Danny.

"You have a computer?"

"Sure, but…"

"I though I was pretty prepared, but a computer was one thing I couldn't pack even if I'd thought of it," Robin responded. "I think I've made a discovery, but I can't be sure yet. And since making acquaintances wasn't exactly a priority…"

Danny pondered for a minute and then smiled knowingly. "You've come to the right place." He opened the window all the way. "Come on in, but keep quiet. Good thing my sister's the only one home." Robin somersaulted in with a subconscious flourish. "Where did you get those moves?" Danny asked as he went back to his computer. "You must have been a circus star in a past life, if I believed in past lives."

"Me neither. Just so happens my parents _were_ circus stars in _this_ life," Robin answered with a commendably steady yet still-troubled voice. Danny, remembering their conversation earlier, didn't say anything. He turned the computer screen back on.

Sam spoke first. "What was that all about?"

Tucker was the first to notice Robin. "Hey, what are you doing there?"

"He can explain when you both come over here," said Danny. "Something's come up that sounds like your area of expertise, Tuck."

"I'm there," said Sam, logging off.

"On my way," said Tucker, following suit.

"You're going to help me? Just like that?" Robin wondered out loud.

"You tell us exactly what's going on, and sure," Danny answered.

"You wouldn't understand," Robin sighed angrily. "Even I don't understand."

"Try your best."

"I have. I swear, you'll never hear of anything like it. The more my friends get involved, the worse things just get. Don't expect me to tell strangers anything."

"What is it with you and secrets?" Danny asked.

"Secrets are power," Robin answered. "If you spent one minute in a room with the greatest villain and the greatest hero I've ever known, you'd know that. Since _you_ have a secret the rest of the world knows nothing about, I bet there's a secret your friends know nothing about, either, right?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Danny asked, nervously.

"Bad? I just wish I'd done that when I had the chance," Robin said. _If only I hadn't gone to Cyborg the first time I fought Slade, _he thought, not for the first time. _If only they'd never known. I never would have pulled it off. I couldn't hide Red X from Starfire_.

Completely unaware that his masked guest was in deep thought, Danny asked, "Can you at least tell me if you know anything about this?" He took the badge out from his pocket.

As soon as he saw the symbol of his arch enemy, Robin felt the impulse to seize it and smash it with his bare hand, like he dreamed of doing to the man's mask. Instead, he gasped, shivered, gritted his teeth, and stared and stared without saying anything, hardly breathing.

Even with the window to his soul hidden, his cold, suppressed rage spoke voluminously more than any hysterical outburst. "I'll rephrase that," said Danny. "_Will_ you tell me where this came from?"

"His name is Slade," Robin hissed. "That's everything I know."

"He's after you, isn't he?" Danny continued, rather more frightened now. "You're running for your life, aren't you?"

"I wish," Robin replied in the same wrathful monotone.

"Hey, since for once you're not in a hurry, there's something you might want to see."

* * *

"I knew it." They were the first words Robin had said since sitting down at Danny's computer to view his biggest fan's latest work. "He's here."

"Who is this guy anyway?" Danny dared to say. Deferentially waiting for a reaction from Robin was like watching the timer on an atomic bomb.

Saying "I don't want to talk about it" felt more powerful than "I wish I knew".

A knock on his door made Danny jump and gasp. "Feeling edgy about something?" Robin asked.

"Only my sister catching you hiding in my room," Danny whispered, mockingly.

"Good thing it's just us, then," Tucker said as he and Sam came in.

"Finally," said Danny. "Okay, Robin, Tucker's the one you need to talk to here."

"Fill me in," Tucker said.

Robin produced the camera he'd found. "A wireless video camera. Someone's been spying on me, everywhere I go, every hour of the day and night. Find out what he knows, and where he is," he explained, as he handed it over.

"You can do that?" Danny wondered.

"It's just a matter of following the upload signal and hacking into the system to view the files, providing the connection hasn't been broken," Sam condescendingly but good-naturedly explained, receiving two blank stares back. "I know more than you give me credit for. Don't act like you don't know it."

"When you're done..." Tucker said as he connected his PDA and the camera to the computer and went to work.

"You're still sore about the video game thing, huh?" Sam suggested.

"Do not disturb a hacker at work," Tucker replied.

"_I'm _still sore about that video game thing," said Danny.

"Don't ask," Sam said to Robin. "Show them some mercy."

Robin, however, was too engrossed even to give the standard "Yeah, sure". "So, you think you can do it?"

"Unless you're looking for five different spies, not really," answered Tucker. "The movie's being broadcast to different receivers."

"Decoy digital trails," Robin summed it up.

"The good news is," Tucker continued, "I can connect to them. We can see whatever he recorded."

"Do it," Robin answered instantly.

But all four of them got quite a surprise. Two clicks of a mouse later, they were watching a video in the park, not of Robin, but of…

"Danny?" Sam was the first to speak.

"I thought you said…" Danny began.

"I did," Robin interrupted him. "I thought for sure…" He was too confused to finish.

Tucker found a menu and scrolled through a few segments. Every one was of Danny fighting a different ghost, some that the friends hadn't seen for months. Some of the best moments, where he took a particularly hard hit or made an exceptionally good move or attack, froze or turned blurry, as if someone had watched that part one too many times over and over again. The camera couldn't have been motion sensitive, since it didn't follow innocent bystanders, but it kept a perfect eye on Danny.

"Wait a minute," Sam jumped in. Danny had been in his ghost mode, alone, on screen, when a powerful red blast knocked him away. The camera followed him and was soon framing him facing against someone in a red, protective jumpsuit riding a Silver Surfer-style flying board. "She look familiar to you?"

"She?" Robin said, in complete shock. He was so sure this had been the breakthrough he'd been searching for. How could a hidden video camera at the spot where he was staying been there to spy on someone else!

"Valerie," Danny confirmed, totally aghast but still unaware of what they had really found.

"But that happened…" Tucker started.

"Weeks ago, exactly," Sam finished. "How old are these recordings?"

"This is one of the last ones, and the date looks right for when you first found out about her," said Tucker. He suddenly smiled and put his hand to his chin in concentration. "Wait a minute. Wasn't that when you guys…"

"Oh, no!" Sam and Danny realized it a split second too late, not until after Valerie chased Danny right underneath the camera next to Sam, and the two of them, with nowhere to run and no time to think, did the least suspicious thing that a teenaged boy and girl would do in park.

Danny was too humiliated to say or do anything but unconsciously turn invisible. Poor Sam, who would've given her life to do the same, could only cover her eyes and scream at the top of her lungs as Robin jumped back in complete confusion and Tucker laughed like he never had before.

"Dreams do come true!" Tucker gasped. "Looks nothing like I imagined it."

"Show's over!" Danny yelled furiously as he ripped the camera, cord and all, out from his computer.

"Fine," Tucker said as he calmed down. He disconnected his PDA and waved it back and forth. "I transferred all the data anyway."

"I'd hurt you if I thought I had the self-control not to kill you in the process," Sam growled, clenching her fists.

Danny stared at Robin, the outsider, who knew nothing about the circumstances or the developments since then. "I don't even want to know," he assured him, putting his hands up. But even he couldn't help smiling and saying, "The hero and the sidekick? Could you be more obvious?"

"It's not like that!" the two of them yelled in desperation. "And we're not his sidekicks!" Sam added for good measure.

"We're not?" Tucker asked, genuinely taken aback.

"Who's responsible for this, Tucker?" Sam angrily demanded. She was in such a volcanic temper, Danny almost expected her to turn into a ghost dragon like the one time she'd accidentally worn a cursed amulet.

"I told you, there's no way to find out," Tucker said, without the least hint of a joke. He hadn't meant to move into such dangerous territory.

"Danny, who did this? Who's spying on you? Who would want to videotape you?"

"Uh…" Danny tried to stall. He could only think of one answer, but he couldn't bear to let them know.

"Think," Sam insisted. "You think Valerie did this? Your parents after they found out the school was haunted? Come on, who would do this?"

"I… it's not what you think."

"I don't know what to think! What is your deal? What are you hiding?"

Robin couldn't understand why Danny was hesitating. He couldn't have known about this spycam, or he wouldn't have let them go to all this trouble. So what did he have to hide? Robin could only think of one thing, the same thing he wanted to hide. _No way. It can't be. What are the chances… It's impossible… ridiculous… Then again, the ghosts around here have been paying a lot of interest in me, and Slade seems to have taken an interest in him…_

_One way to find out. _He grabbed Danny's arm. "Can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

"No, I don't want to talk about this!" Danny answered in exasperation. His secret was on the brink of being exposed, he couldn't think of a viable cover, Sam, a fellow victim, and Tucker, a skeptical genius, were pressing for answers. Now Mr. Mysterious wanted an exclusive?

"Sounds familiar," Robin tried to hint. "Does my 'situation' sound the least familiar to you?"

"Why?" Danny asked, still clueless.

Robin gestured to the camera and disk on the desk. "Looks like we have eerily similar problems here. Someone watching you, and you don't know a thing…"

Danny started to catch on. "Knows everything about you before you know they exist…"

"Obsessed with you…"

"Dedicated to making your life miserable…"

"Will never let you rest…"

"Any time you want to translate for us little people," Tucker interjected.

"And you feel like you can't trust anyone," Robin finished.

The two boys looked at each other and sent a silent confirmation, making one of the most dramatic realizations of their lives. It only took a second of unspoken understanding and sympathy for them to form a special bond. Without even planning it, Danny Phantom and Robin said, "We need to talk."


	8. A New Friend and New Doubts

"Who is he?"

Robin continued to stare down at his reflection in the badge as he answered Danny as they walked down the sidewalk. "I know his name is Slade. But you know as much about his identity as I do."

Danny was confused. "That's it? You don't know who he is, where he's from, why he's after you?"

"He's an insane megalomaniac with eyes and ears everywhere and a superiority complex worse than Napoleon." Robin looked up and off into the distance, a habit the secretive hero had when opening up to someone. "At first, I was just a subject for him to tease and tantalize with sarcastic messages, baffling clues, and cryptic crimes. I guess I passed the test because he decided I'd make a great sidekick, since I reminded him so much of himself." It was the first time he'd spoken about that out loud to _anyone_ since a sentence or two with Starfire. Flashbacks overcame him like a flood: _Everything you care about, you destroy. I know you hate losing almost as much as I do. Excellent, Robin. I think your skills are improving. For some time now I've been searching for... an apprentice. Someone to follow in my footsteps. I've chosen you. Sooner or later, you will see things my way…_That voice! The memory hurt like a blow from a two-by-four.

Something in his voice must have given him away. The boys stopped in unison. Robin continued vocally reliving some of the worst moments of his life between heavy breaths. He described for Danny the time Slade saved his life as he was about to fall off a building and then saved him again when Robin threatened to kill himself if he harmed the Titans whom Slade had used to pressure him into serving him. He couldn't bring himself to talk about Terra, but he did explain that Slade disappeared after a battle in an erupting volcano and that he was the only one who didn't believe he died… until a week ago when he had the second-closest call he'd had yet with death, at the hands of absolutely no one and nothing, just the power of his own obsession.

"Once I heard Cyborg say that someone needed to trigger it, I panicked. Only for a millisecond, but… I had finally let it go." Robin threw his hands up in exasperation and started walking again, faster this time.

"It wasn't your fault," said Danny.

"It only took an atom bomb's worth of abuse before I remembered that people get wet in the rain, what's invisible to one person is invisible to everyone, and I not once connected with anything solid," said Robin.

"That's the idea behind an illusion," said Danny. "You see what you want to see."

"You know you're addicted once you've crossed the line between wanting and needing," said Robin. "My friend Starfire had an arch nemesis, too, her older sister. When their Battle to End All Battles finally came, I could see the anticipation in her eyes that had been mounting for sixteen years. She won without going crazy."

"A control freak who considers psychological warfare fun and games is **not** the same as a rival," said Danny. "This is different."

"It's not the mind games, it's not the rivalry, it's not even that we _are _so much alike" said Robin, shaking his head and holding Slade's badge up again. "It's the secrecy that drives me crazy. Not exactly a breakthrough there."

"As hard as it must be for you, look on the bright side," said Danny. "You might not know his secret, but at least he doesn't know yours."

"I've been Robin for so long, it's hard for _me _to remember my secret identity sometimes," Robin answered as he pocketed the copper disk. He paused mid-gesture as something clicked. He finally looked over at Danny. "Wait a minute. You're not saying…" Now it was Danny's turn to look away as he flashbacked to the pain of his first encounter with Vlad Plasmius, only physical pain in his case but even more intense. "You know his identity, too, don't you?" Robin wondered out loud, realizing he might have wrongly assumed that just because he knew next to nothing about _his _arch nemesis, neither did Danny.

"Ever heard of Vlad Masters?" Danny said as he turned back to face Robin.

"No," Robin answered.

"Big time billionaire. Went to college with my dad when he was already obsessed with ghosts. Same experiment, same explosion, same powers."

"Doesn't necessarily mean it made him half-ghost."

"He told me the day after he nearly killed me," Danny assured Robin. "Once he found out whose son I was, he decided he'd rather recruit me."

"When you can't reach the father, pick on the son," Robin mused sympathetically. "It's a curse."

"Actually, it's more about my mom now," said Danny. And he continued to fill Robin in on Vlad's fixation with his mother, twenty year strong grudge against his father, and his two narrow escapes at the college reunion a few weeks ago.

Robin finally stopped him. "Sounds like you were the only one who could stop him then. What makes you think he's still after you?" The truth was, the whole thing bored him when he thought about what seemed his eternal psychological struggle with Slade. It was nothing like he'd been expecting.

"Hello, you saw the camera, didn't you?" Danny answered, annoyed at sensing he wasn't being taken seriously. "You think it's a coincidence that ghosts didn't start invading this town, and might I add _only _this town, until after I got my powers? I don't even know how long he's really been spying on me or testing me."

"Being an obstacle between him and his goal doesn't make you his goal," said Robin.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Robin said a little too patronizingly. The boys stopped and faced each other. "Look, it's my fault and I'm sorry, but I jumped to the wrong conclusion."

"What are you getting at?" Danny demanded, crossing his arms.

"I thought you were being targeted by a psychopath just like me," said Robin. "No offense, but compared to what I've been through, you've just taken a stroll in the park."

"I'm telling you, you've got some nerve, all right," Danny snapped.

"Oh, come on," Robin said, now not only angry that he had spilled out his secrets to a kid but just plain bored with the conversation. "We're talking about entirely different scenarios here. You've been fighting this Plasmius for a few weeks, I've been fighting Slade for over a year. I gave up my conscience, almost lost my friends, almost lost them their lives, and ran away from home _again _just to find out who he is, but there's no mystery about Plasmius. He picked you because of your parents. Slade picked me because he sees himself in me."

"We have the exact same powers!" Danny interjected.

"What? Ghost powers can turn you evil beyond your control if you're not careful?"

"Yes!"

"You don't know what you're talking about. I've seen someone lose control because she couldn't control her emotions. _I've _lost control because I couldn't control my emotions..."

"You want to talk about losing control of your emotions?" Danny snapped, his thoughts turning to the last ghost he'd sent to the Ghost Zone, Ember."You have no IDEA what I've been through this past week!"

"I know more than I want to now," Robin coolly responded, turning and walking away haughtily.

Danny followed him. "I get it. You think just because I have super powers, and _my _arch enemy ranks lower on a scale of Insanity, which I disagree with, by the way, you have it s-o-o-o-o much harder."

"I know I have it harder than you!" Robin stopped in his tracks, turned completely around, and stopped holding back. "Even though I can't fly, and I'm not invincible, all I am is a superhero. There's no room in my life anymore for school, sports, dating… anyone who I could call my family is either dead or hates me…" Robin suddenly stopped and turned away as if he didn't know what he was doing. "I chose this life, and I'm not complaining. But I was wrong about you," he said as he started walking again.

Danny ran up in front of him, his flaming green eyes staring down the masked, silent ones. "If it makes you feel any better, the feeling's mutual. Gotta admit, you really had me impressed for a minute. Saving the world sure would be a lot harder if I was human, I'll give you points for that…"

"Save the world from what?" Robin interrupted. "If you really are a target just like me, anything ghost-related that's ever happened around here's all been on your account, right?" Danny didn't have an immediate response to that one, so Robin continued. "I do sympathize with your secret and your problems with your friends, but I don't have time for this. I have a score to settle, a _serious _one."

"Does that mean you're running away again?" Danny asked him as he started to move away.

"No. That's the only good thing that came out of wasting all this time here. I've caught up with him. I'm the one hunting again."

Robin kept walking, leaving Danny behind, who kept talking. "Just how long do think it'll be before you catch another break?"

That thought had occurred to Robin long ago. "It'll be worth it," he said, half to himself, not looking back.

"This has got to be the most ridiculous plan I ever heard of," Danny mumbled but loudly.

Robin stopped and turned halfway. "I'm not going home defeated, and I'm sure not staying here."

Danny called after him this time. "Yeah, it's not like I could be some help or anything!"

Nobody spoke to Robin like that! He marched back down the street as he yelled, "You don't get it! We have nothing in common here! I don't want help from you, and I don't need help from anybody!"

Danny turned his back on him this time as he said, walking away, "Hey, if these guys don't want to be found, you're not gonna find them. Vlad's already hired someone else to do his dirty work for him. You're right. What was I thinking? Like you'd know what it's like to have your arch enemy turn a distraught, outraged, slightly crazy girl into an assassin…" By now he'd caught Robin's attention enough to earn a raised eyebrow. "…_and _make you think that it was all your fault when it was really a set up all along…" made Robin freeze in his tracks and pivot around. "…and your best friend just won't listen to reason because he has a crush on her."

"WAIT!" Robin dropped all pretense and ran back to Danny. "What did you just say? Come on, what were you saying about a distraught, crazy girl…"

"Who my arch enemy's using to get at me after making her hate me?" said Danny, who wasn't following Robin's sudden interest and what actually looked like fear.

"But who's not just another villain but your friend's girlfriend," Robin finished, in complete shock. However trivial he found Danny's conflict compared to his own, this was one coincidence that thoroughly creeped him out.

His reaction creeped Danny out, too. "Uh, you okay? Hel-lo? Rob-in…" he tried prompting him when he stared out into the distance again.

With a sigh of resignation, Robin faced Danny eye to eye as they started walking back the way they'd come. In the same grave tone he used delivering catch phrases and from throwing the light switch a week ago from the catacomb of a basement of Titans Tower, he calmly said, "Let's talk."

* * *

"You're kidding?" was all Danny could gasp, what could have been minutes or hours later, where the two were now sitting at a bus stop bench. Robin couldn't reply. The only thing more sad and more mentally exhausting than hearing the story of Terra was telling the story of Terra. 

"I probably don't want to know, but… what happened to her?" Danny asked next.

"She's dead," Robin said before Danny finished the last word, just wanting to get the answer over with. Robin stood up and paced to relieve the jitters in his adrenaline-filled limbs. He took one deep breath. "I guess that's the first time any of us have admitted it."

"This is bad, isn't it?" Danny mentioned pointlessly.

"Consistent so far, that's all I can say," Robin said in a contrastingly dry voice, panning his solid gaze from the ground to the dusky, twilight sky. "I never expected anything like this. I never thought there could be someone else out there just as psychotic, just a selfish, just as evil as…" He switched mid-sentence as his brain switched mid-thought. He walked back to the bench. "I never thought that somewhere, someone else was dealing with the same thing."

Danny stood up so that they were (roughly) eye to eye. "Does that mean you think I'm good enough for you now?"

"It means that this is much more serious than I thought," said Robin, no trace of humility or apology in his answer. "I want to help you, before this gets even worse, but…"

Danny cut him off before he could finish the thought, having already learned the impulsive hero wouldn't go back to it. "Like I said before, you skip town now, how long do you think it'll take for you to catch another break?"

Robin found himself crossing his arms and actually pondering the suggestion. "It could put you or your friends in danger."

"They got used to it," Danny found himself joking.

"I can trust you won't advertise where I am on tomorrow's front page?"

"If I can trust you to forget my name around everyone besides Sam and Tucker."

"Deal," said Robin decidedly, and the two shook hands in traditional old-fashioned friendship.

"I pitched camp over in the park," Robin informed with a pleasant smirk. "You know, where you two, how do I even put this? … 'accidentally' kissed?"

"If you promise never to mention that again," Danny warned as he unfolded his cell phone, "I might be able to get ya' something better." Robin waited without a clue as Danny made a call. "Hey, Sam, good news. You finally get to make that contribution you've been looking forward to."

* * *

Robin was back on the R-Cycle, his pack strapped to his back, Danny flying above him, in invisible ghost mode, guiding the way, though he still hadn't said where they were going. 

"Wait. Stop here." Danny turned visible as he landed in front of a very attractive house on a corner and waited for Robin to remove his helmet.

"Wow. Who lives here?" asked Robin.

"Sam," Danny answered, lifting off just a few inches from the ground. "Okay, this is gonna feel weird," he warned as he grabbed Robin's shoulders, focused, and went intangible.

"What are you doing?" Robin asked. The next thing he knew was a cold prickle spreading from his shoulders to his head and the rest of his body like a winter breeze, right before his body and then his motorcycle turned completely blue and transparent. "Hey!" His surroundings suddenly went dark like pulling a shade up from the ground instead of down, and it felt like he was moving, down and forward, but he only felt the motion, no connection with anything solid, either the street or the wall or the earth. 10 seconds later, the motion sped up and switched to directly forward. As he burst into a light filled room, his coloring not only returned to normal, but his weight returned, too; he leaned forward to support himself and held his head up with his left hand as if he had just fallen down a staircase.

"What was that?" he said as he turned around, gasping to find a very solid wall where he knew he had just been.

"It's called intangibility," Danny proudly clarified as he reappeared, hovering in ghost mode, next to Robin.

"Could have used that for sneaking in after curfew," Robin said.

"Comes in handy when you want to make a quick getaway, too," added Danny.

"Or for sneaking in to my basement," came Sam's voice from across the room, where she descended from a staircase with Tucker.

"Basement?" Robin said, bewildered. The room they were in was bigger than his entire Operations Center and contained a big screen t.v., stereos, and a movie theater concession stand. Adjacent open doors led into a gym, a bathroom, a walk-in closet containing not clothes but CDs, DVDs and video games, and a room where he could see full bookshelves and two computers. "I guess your parents are out of town, huh?"

"This is _my _basement," Sam explained, leaning against the wall and frowning like she couldn't be more bored. "It doesn't matter that they're home; they never come down here. Of course, they find it atrocious that I reasonably prefer one room upstairs, but alas for them, I do. This floor was going to waste, so I offered it to Danny as a sort of safe-house we could use in case of an emergency."

Noticing the dazed way her guest stared around the room, Tucker pointed out, "Don't try to understand it. There are no answers why a girl can't stand coming from one of the richest families in the world."

"What? Just how rich are you?" Robin asked, looking at Sam. The thing that shocked Danny and Tucker and made them exchange looks was that he didn't sound impressed or surprised or jealous but… pitiful?

"Richer than any decent human being has a right to be," Sam answered, blasé.

Robin shuddered as he said with disgust, "Really grates on your nerves, doesn't it?"

"Well, would it kill them to live in a house you can't get lost in?" Sam answered, finally showing some feeling.

Their conversation continued as Tucker and Danny stared on, baffled. "I guess it's an acquired taste," said Robin. "But once you get used to the life, you can't go on without it."

"Why? It's all hypocrisy and business and taking advantage of others!" Sam responded.

"I guess that all depends on the person, but it's a pointless, miserable existence all the same."

"My point exactly."

"Time out! What is going on here?" Danny broke in.

Robin seemed at a loss for words. He finally just stated, coolly, as if it were such a trifle not worth mentioning, it never even crossed his mind to point it out, "My old guardian is a millionaire."

Sam raised her right eyebrow as she looked at him with a new sympathy, Tucker's jaw dropped as he recoiled from the shock and the obvious insanity of the speaker, and Danny just shook his head as he watched their new friend head into the gym. As unbreakable and unfeeling as rock, impossible to understand, as full of as many reasons to hate him as he was to admire him, and brimming with no end of surprises was his assessment of Robin. _Maybe he was right. Now he's something. I really am nothing like him_.


	9. The Plot Takes Shape

Not a sound interrupted the imperceptible vibration of the ocean waves on the shore. The camera panned around the entire tiny island to find no signs of movement before pulling back to frame on the screen a colossal skyscraper, shaped like a T. A gloved hand reached forward and with the push of a button, the blank screen beside it was filled with an image of a school building. Things were just as deserted here for about thirty seconds. Then, the school bell broke the silence not a moment before a crowd of teenagers poured outside. But the camera zoomed in and picked out with ease the only three students of interest to the two viewers.

"Still together, just as I expected," one commented.

His companion's single eye, however, was focused on the giant T. "Things are quiet at the tower."

"We can't strike now. Not until they're alone."

"You should be able to handle their three friends as easily their security system and defenses," the second spy softly replied as he made as if to walk away. "That _is _why I hired you."

"_You_ hired _me_? That's a bold statement coming from someone who crawled to me on bended knee begging for help."

You could not tell if the masked shadow had even heard this accusation. "I will use any means if they suit my needs," he spoke, but without moving a muscle even to turn and face his partner. "_Now_ is the time to strike."

"How do you plan to snatch the girl right out from under his nose?"

At last, the one eye turned to face him. "Speedily and successfully. Unless, of course, you're not feeling quite up to the challenge."

The first spy glanced at the island fortress one more time as his eyes glowed a hot red. A black aura surrounded him, a flash of black light, and a caped ghost was standing in his place. "Just be ready to pay up," he warned, and with a pull of his cape, in a swirling bright green vortex, he vanished.

* * *

"So, all still quiet on the western front?" Sam and Tucker narrowed their eyebrows at another one of their leader's lame jokes. "Your parents suspect anything?" Danny clarified for Sam as they left school for the day. 

"Nope. By now, they've already left for that yacht party, and Robin was fixing his motorcycle when I left this morning," Sam assured him. "I gave him a key and let him know when it would be safe to leave."

"What about your folks?" Tucker asked Danny when they reached the door.

"They're still oblivious, and I'm still safe," said Danny.

"If ghosts keep showing up around here, it won't stay that way for long," added the Goth girl, habitually looking at the down side.

"That's not the only thing I'm worried about," said Danny.

"Why?" asked Tucker. "There wasn't a single attack at school today."

"_That's_ what worries me," said Danny.

"Exactly. Nothing good ever follows when things are too quiet." The startled trio looked up to see that their eavesdropper was none other than Robin, leaning against a tree nonchalantly enough to make any jock envious.

"What are you doing out here?" asked Danny. "What happened to your paranoia of being discovered?"

"No one around here's going to recognize me," Robin explained with a shrug. "Thought I'd take a look around town for anything suspicious. Nothing."

"Not good," agreed Danny.

"No offense, but how do you stand living in a place this, well, small?" the city-bred stranger wondered as the four walked away.

"You make friends with a ghost kid," said Tucker.

"How big is Jump City, anyway?" asked Sam.

"Big and dangerous enough to need five resident super powered crime fighters," Robin answered her.

"Don't you have police for that?" asked Tucker.

"Used to, but the city couldn't afford both of us," replied Robin.

"Don't you guys do anything _besides_ save the day?" asked Danny, trying to imagine what five kids like himself, living alone, together, did on a typical day.

"We still shoot hoops, play video games, watch horror movies, go to the park," listed Robin. "We've just got to be more careful. Raven almost scared us to death one time her powers went haywire after a scary movie made her freak out. You ever been chased down black corridors by shadowy, shapeless monsters, picking you off one by one?"

"No, but one _can_ hope, right?" Sam laughed.

"You don't even go to school?" Danny asked.

"Not unless you count the time Cyborg infiltrated the headquarters of an academy for super villains," Robin recalled. "I've been meaning to ask him why he doesn't use that holographic generator more often if he likes looking human so much.

"What do you mean?" asked Sam, as they turned the corner, heading into the park.

"Cyborg's half-robot. It was... the only way to save his life after this... explosion at his father's lab," Robin answered, trying to sound as composed as one could while relating his best friend's pain.

"_That_ sounds familiar," Danny commented.

"Only to you and Beast Boy," Robin informed him. "Raven and Starfire were both born with their powers, at least that's what Raven told her that time they switched bodies."

"What?" the trio exclaimed.

"We almost didn't make it out of that one. Starfire was trying to control herself to focus and levitate objects all over the place, and Raven couldn't feel angry enough to fire a starbolt until the last minute."

"Levitating?" said Sam.

"Starbolts?" said Tucker.

Eager to steer the conversation towards another subject, Robin said, "Why would anyone who finds time between family, chores, and homework to banish malevolent spirits bent on world domination find this stuff so fascinating?"

"You mean the freedom to use your powers whenever you want? To lose your cool without it being the end of the world?" responded Danny, carefully not looking anyone in the eye. "Yeah, nothing fascinating about a club where a ghost kid would fit right in."

"Yeah, tough luck, dude," said Tucker in cheering-up-mode. "They have clubs for jocks, bandys, techno geeks, and cheerleaders and cheerleader-look-a-likes, but enough super powered kids never generated enough interest to start a branch around here."

"You're one of a kind, Danny Phantom," Sam added. "No Halfas Anonymous or Connecting-Super-Heroes-With-Super-Heroes Pen Pals for you."

"Guess it's the double-life of an alter ego for the rest of my life for me, then," said Danny, gloomily to the ground.

Robin kept silent as he thought, _Is he actually jealous? I guess it would be hard if you couldn't feel a thing without randomly phasing in and out of focus, not to mention walls, or your eyes glowing and blowing your secret. All the teasing and peer pressure of high school was too much for Cyborg to handle, but Danny's still trying to tough it out. Maybe I was a little too harsh last night._

Danny's and Tucker's window of opportunity before their parents would get suspicious was almost over, so the gang headed towards Sam's house where they could call home; Sam and Tucker still wanted to hear more about the Titans and Jump City, and Danny and Robin naturally wanted to compare more notes and make some kind of battle plan.

"When Slade finally feels brave enough to show his face," Robin whispered icily as he tossed a disk into the air, unsheathed a birdarang, let it fly, and caught it again with perfect precision after it sliced the disk in half, "I'll be ready."

"Whoah, and I thought the Mp3 player was a cool gadget," said an impressed Tucker.

"Where'd you get all that stuff, anyway?" inquired Sam, glancing at his utility belt as he pocketed the sharp projectile.

"It's a long story," Robin simply answered.

"Maybe you oughta check out some of my parents' gadgets," said Danny. "They're designed to work against ghosts, but they cause a lot of damage to humans, too. Just ask my sister."

"Why not? We can use every edge we can get," agreed Robin. "I've been so stressed out ever since I left, I haven't exactly been on my best form."

When you were a martial arts expert _and_ a techno genius _and_ had cat-like agility and lightning reflexes, who needed super powers? Danny's head reeled just thinking about the moves he'd seen the acrobat pull off in the last two days. "Well, at least you know you'll always be better than me," he said.

Robin felt a twinge of guilt at those words. He may be good, but even he hadn't been able to take down any ghosts on his own. And it wasn't like he'd always been content with being so human. "I'm good because I have to be. Super powers never worked for me. I once formed what I thought was a foolproof plan to take down Slade."

"Mess around with forces you shouldn't have?" Tucker put in, in the voice of one who'd been there, done that.

"Not xynothium so much as my own dark side," Robin finished.

"Take it from a geek who's been introduced to one too many fists," said Danny. "Know the feeling."

"But you control it, and that takes strength," Robin said to Danny, a light bulb turning on in his mind. "In fact, skill-wise, you might be a good match for me."

"Is that a compliment or an insult?" asked Danny as the four teens stopped, though still blocks away from their destination.

"It's a challenge," answered Robin.

"Say what?" Tucker threw in as Robin continued, "I need the practice, plus I want to see more of what you can do. Spar with me."

"Are you serious?" insisted Sam. "You couldn't even touch him. It wouldn't be a fair fight."

"Yeah, for Danny," added Tucker.

"Thanks for the support, Tuck," Danny said sarcastically.

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't think it would be a challenge," answered Robin truthfully. "It's not like you could stay intangible the entire time because then you couldn't touch me, either. I think we'd both have a fighting chance."

_Robin actually thinks I stand a chance against him,_ Danny thought. _He must have had one quick change of heart._ "Why not?" he accepted confidently. Robin was right about one thing; he _hadn't _seen everything he could do.

"What's the first thing you do with a new friend? Beat each other up," Sam said, not in the least bit to herself. "Boys."

"Actually, it's more like 'heroes'," said Tucker. " 'Cause I don't get it either."

"Just call my parents and cover for me, okay, guys?" Danny requested as he and Robin turned back to the park alone. "See ya' later."

"Sure, go have your fun and leave us with alibi duty. _Again_," said Tucker as he and Sam continued alone...

or so they thought.

* * *

"Azarath metrion zinthos... azarath metrion zinthos..." She was floating in mid-air, her eyes closed, her arms raised in meditation. The only movement on her body was the fluttering hem of her cloak. Her voice repeated the same musical syllables without any prompting from her brain. She was far away, where she felt nothing, remembered nothing, her energy in perfect equilibrium. 

An unexpected chill shook her out of her peaceful state. A sense of foreboding and an intangible but nonetheless sure feeling of danger overcame the empath; she latched onto it and returned to within the four walls of her bedroom. Now she could sense another presence in the room with her, but as quickly as it had come, it was gone, with not a sound, not a sight altered.

Raven enveloped her sliding door in her black energy, opened it, floated into the hall, and alighted on the ground to walk down to the operations center, wondering what threat had caused such a strong vibe.

Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing another video game, but their silence and stillness and the lack of fists flying whenever a point was scored indicated there was no energy in it; it was just their way of killing time. Starfire was staring out the window over the bay again with a look that would make an innocent prisoner staring out from death row appear happy.

No alarms had gone off, no signs of an intruder. Raven walked into the middle of the room. "Everything okay in here?"

"Sure," Cyborg answered, dropping his game controller.

"Same old, same old," added Beast Boy, doing likewise.

"Just fine," said Cyborg, only to hold back the silence now that it had been broken.

Starfire dropped the hand that had been resting gently on the glass and clenched her fists in sad frustration as she turned and approached the others. "How can you say that everything is fine? Nothing is fine. Nothing will ever be fine or the same again until Robin returns."

"Starfire, Robin can take care of himself," Raven tried to assure her friend, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"But why must he?" the red-head answered tearfully. "Why must he always do things alone? Why must he always keep secrets from his friends?" She began pacing around the couch. "Those in a team should be able to depend on each other, but Robin will depend on none of us to help," Starfire lamented as she collapsed onto the sofa.

"We can't help," said Cyborg, getting up and standing in front of her. "When you try to help Robin, you just make things worse." He suddenly felt a motion in the air behind him and turned, but there was nothing there. The others were busy reassuring the grieving alien girl.

"Robin may be a loner, but he's no fool," said Raven. "I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing."

"I would just like to be doing it with him," said Starfire.

"Come on, Star," said Beast Boy, as happy-go-lucky as ever and smiling. "When has anyone who's written that kind of letter ever said 'I'll be back'? He must have meant it."

"And if he _cannot_ come back?" Starfire replied. "If he has walked into a trap of Slade's? If he... If he..." The image of her friend passing out in her arms, a bloody mess of bruises and torn clothes, burned into her mind, she couldn't finish the thought.

Raven was distracted by a noise above her head, so as soon as Beast Boy had said, "Anybody else besides me freezing?" Cyborg replied, "Don't even think about it. Robin's had closer calls than anybody I've ever met except me, and he's not about to run out."

Evidently, the noises weren't in Raven's imagination because Cyborg looked up, too, as Beast Boy said, "Robin may be stubborn, even crazy, but he's definitely not stupid. He wouldn't let anything... well, he's the last person you need to worry about holding his own, Star."

"But what if..." the princess began, but Beast Boy cut her off.

"Just relax. Trust me. There is absolutely nothing to worry about."

He spoke too soon. One instant, Starfire was looking up at him with hope in her eyes. A nanosecond later, a look of utter fear overtook her as she screamed and then, with no warning of any kind, vanished from right in front of her friends.

The two boys also yelped at the sight and Raven gasped and jolted, knocking her hood down. Cyborg called out, "Starfire!" over faint rustlings, bumpings, and grunts of one straining with all their might that seemed to be coming from all over the room. A very familiar voice screamed again.

"What the heck is going on here?" yelled Beast Boy. As if on cue, following another scream, halfway across the room Starfire reappeared, five feet off the ground, struggling with all her might against the grip of a white-cloaked, blue-skinned, fanged stranger.

Starfire finally broke free and, grabbing her attacker by the wrists, threw him across the room. The Titans scattered to avoid collision, but he disappeared in mid throw. Eight eyes swiveled around the room, Starfire gasping in shock, when Cyborg yelled, "Star! Look out!"

The Tamaranian swooped down and made a ninety-degree turn, bringing her back to her upper vantage point, just dodging the intruder who had apparently come right out of the ceiling for another strike. Cyborg raised and aimed his sonic cannon and fired once the shot was clear. There was a crash as the room filled with smoke and Starfire flew back to hover above the boys with Raven. The Titans gasped as the smoke cleared to reveal their opponent safe behind a red pane of glass, untouched.

"Who are you?" Cyborg gasped without lowering his weapon.

"That's none of your concern, really," said the intruder with a mean smile. He lowered his hand and the shield evaporated.

"How did you get in here?" Cyborg said next.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," was the answer. "Now, as much as I'd enjoy getting to know you all better, I have a job to do. So I'm afraid I must get right down to business."

It was really a horrible thing to see. Where there had just been one intruder, there were now four, and they all fired a red energy blast at once. Raven raised a black protective dome around the Titans just in time.

Shock now given way to anger and adrenaline, Cyborg yelled, "Titans, go!" The dome disintegrated and the heroes leapt into battle Cyborg tried firing another sonic blast and Starfire an eye beam at two of the clones. They disappeared and reappeared, utterly untouched.

"Missed me," they mocked before firing two more energy blasts. Cyborg was knocked down but Starfire flew up and dodged it, firing a barrage of starbolts as she came back down. One shot made contact, and the clone disintegrated right in front of her eyes. The second copy, apparently thinking it was safe when she ceased fire, became visible again, and Cyborg surprised him from the side with a flying punch. He, too, disappeared in a red explosion as he hit the wall behind him.

"Azarath metrion zinthos!" Raven's eyes flashed with power as she conjured black restraints out of her powers and attempted to bind one of the clones. He countered with a glowing red energy that was too strong for her. She lost her grip and as her powers fizzled out, she was knocked out of the air with an energy blast. As he flew towards her, warming up for another strike, she dissolved into the floor and, to his obvious shock, descended from through the ceiling as the bird for which she was named, and reformed into solid human form but afire with black anger.

"What are you?" her opponent asked before being enveloped in a crackling black aura that reduced him to a brief wisp of glowing smoke.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Raven calmly echoed his earlier words, landing back on the ground.

Beast Boy was the only one left fighting the whatever-this-guy-was. But turning into a lion, a bull, an eagle, a bear, or a triceratops was getting him nowhere as the intruder calmly stood with crossed arms, protected by a red dome of energy. He finally dropped the shield as the dinosaur shrank back to human form.

"Shape shifting. Very impressive," he commented offhandedly. "I personally always wanted to try that."

"Huh?" the exhausted changeling wondered as his opponent turned a transluscent blue and lunged for him. It happened too quickly for anyone to do anything. As soon as they collided, the enemy turned invisible (as everyone now understood), and the Titan glowed a bright green aura as he screamed, but only for a second. He turned and faced the others with an evil smile and eerie red eyes.

Starfire found her tongue first. "Beast Boy?" She found herself flying back up with a scream as her friend turned into a large venomous cobra that followed her into the air and coiled itself round her ankles.

Raven grasped the snake with her telekinetic energy and flung it back to the floor, but he came after her next as a tiger. She swiped her hands with flowing shields of energy in front of her, one after another, as she retreated before the swiping claws. Finally, with both hands in front of her, she pushed him back to the far wall with one mighty blast.

"What did he do to him?" Cyborg said hurriedly as the tiger transformed into a woolly mammoth and charged. Raven surrounded him with a rippling black tidal wave of her powers.

"I have a theory," she said as she closed her eyes and moved her black hands in the pattern of a complicated spell. Her eyes lit up as she opened them, raised her hands above her head and then towards the now human-shaped Titan. Slowly but firmly, she chanted once, "Evil spirit, BE GONE!" As she pulled her hands apart, Beast Boy and his possessor followed suit. The unconscious Titan fell as Raven relaxed her powers and their enemy rose into the air again.

"Enough! The fun and games are over!" he announced with clenched eyes. A red whirlwind or cyclone began to materialize around him, quickly growing in circumference. The blast filled the room and knocked the four defenders limp. Everyone was still struggling to their knees as he flew towards Starfire and pulled her into their by her neck.

"Now relax," he said as the weakened heroine screamed in fright. "It's nothing personal." He pulled her Titans communicator from its slot on her belt and let it drop to the floor. "It's just business." With a genuine evil laugh, he raised his cape, producing a green twist of light energy around them both.

"Starfire!" Cyborg yelled as he got to his feet. He sprinted across the room and dove for the two but a split second too late. In a cyclone of green light, they were both gone.

"Starfire! Star, you there?" Beast Boy called out.

"They're not invisible. They're really gone," Raven explained as she helped him up.

"But who... what... how did he do that? Where did he take her? Why?" Cyborg panicked.

"What happened anyway?" Beast Boy inquired, rubbing his head. "How did I..."

"You were possessed," said Raven, cool and collected as ever.

"Say what?" Beast Boy exclaimed in return.

"Raven, what was that?" Cyborg asked, turning to her.

Raven floated a few feet away and hung above where the communicator had fallen. She looked over her shoulder to her two remaining teammates and stiffly replied, "_That_ was a ghost."


	10. Clueless in 2 Towns

An ominous streak of lightning illuminated the black, threatening storm clouds overshadowing Jump City. A green hawk soared across the scene to the city's coast and kept flying, out to circle the T-shaped steel fortress on the tiny, lone island that stood as if guarding the land from all invaders. Outside reigned the neutral quiet that simply comes from lack of life, essential when 50 percent of one's job was observation. But within reigned the quiet that comes from shock and fear and a chaos so strong, no voice could do it justice, so no one tried.

Cyborg stood before the op center's wall-turned-computer-screen, typing at the keyboard, hence the roving stats and pop-up charts and zones being scanned in turn on screen. Raven stood next to him, hood down and eyes focused, not on what they were watching but on what her powers were tuned in for. The screen morphed into one large view of the pier and ferris wheel the teenagers knew all too well. Cyborg sighed, "Nothing," as he switched to a visual of the park. "Nothing," he repeated, and "Nothing," again as four windows showing four different but equally placid buildings appeared. "Nothing suspicious anywhere in the entire city," he finally concluded.

"And just as many clues," his telepathic friend added, raising an eyebrow and tilting her head in concentration, suddenly alerted to something. "Beast Boy's back."

The double doors parted as the last member of the remnants of the team entered. "Let me guess," Cyborg greeted him. "No news?"

"Zip, zilch, nada," the green hero confirmed. "They're long gone."

"Man, where could he have taken her?" Cyborg asked of the air for the hundredth time.

"With the power to teleport, he could take her anywhere," Raven explained, listing slowly and tediously, "The other side of the city, of the country, the galaxy... even to another dimension. Maybe even the Spirit World from which there's no return."

"We get it," her exasperated teammates shut her down together.

"Just looking at the big picture," she defended herself.

"Here's the picture," Beast Boy spoke up. "We're dealing with a ghost! An evil spirit that can move through walls and turn invisible and take over your body! A real, live GHOST!" A pause. "Uh, I mean... you know..."

"No, you don't know, and neither do we," Cyborg took over. "Some creep took Starfire and we don't know _anything_- who he is, where he's hiding, what he wants, or how to find him!"

Raven raised her right hand from within the folds of her cloak, examining Starfire's communicator. "Or how he knew about the locator in the communicators. Pretty smart move."

"Too smart," said Cyborg. "That was the only chance we had of ever tracking them down. This guy really pulled one over on us."

"He sure couldn't have picked a worse time to make his move," Beast Boy said next. "I mean, what are the chances we'd get attacked right after Robin goes MIA? What a coincidence."

Cyborg shook his head pitifully at his clueless friend, but Raven sighed, seething with frustration, "Yeah... coincidence."

"This _is_ Starfire we're talking about," Cyborg theorized. "What if this _does _have something to do with Robin?"

"You don't think it's Slade, do you?" Beast Boy shuddered.

"No way. That's impossible," Cyborg assured him. "Right?" he added after a pause, glancing sideways towards Raven.

"I'll believe anything's possible now," the girl answered, strolling away from the two boys with a scowl on her face, but not from anger at either of the two Titans present.

"Even if this isn't about Robin, Robin wouldn't have let him get away," Raven heard Cyborg criticizing himself, behind her.

"Who's gonna tell him Star's missing when he gets back?" Beast Boy asked, evidently hoping it wouldn't have to be him.

But it wouldn't be Raven either, she thought, not because, like the boys, she was afraid of Robin taking the medieval approach of killing the messenger. What bothered her most was how things were falling apart, and it all seemed to lead back to the leader. Next time she saw him, Robin had better be afraid of _her_.

Returning to the window, Raven closed her eyes and slowly, icily whispered, "Robin, whatever you're up to, it had better be good."

* * *

Beams of kryptonite-green energy rocketed back and forth. The air was sliced and diced by disks and speeding red blurs. Bombs exploded, tree limbs were vaporized, and two slim, young figures, one a plethora of color, one solely black and white, darted around the ring (that is, _otherwise deserted forest clearing_). 

Robin landed and righted himself just in time to deflect two more energy blasts with his trusty bowstaff. Danny successfully dodged both of the rebounds. "Come on," Robin said, pulling his staff apart into two and twirling them before him. "This was supposed to be a challenge. I work out this hard every day in the gym."

Danny flew down and the two exchanged fist-to-staff blows until the ghost boy knocked one away with an ectoplasmic-energy boosted punch. "You know if you were a ghost, I'd have you locked in an impenetrable vortex prison on your way back to the Ghost Zone by now!" Danny threatened as the athlete somersaulted into a tree and he flew after him.

"Now therein lies the problem, huh?" his caped opponent retorted, taking another flip and leap back to the ground while firing another bird-a-rang that went wide past the ghost boy's shoulder.

"Oops. Missed me," Danny couldn't help bragging.

"Look again. Or better yet, don't!" Robin taunted him as the weapon circled back and just cut his right arm. "Science or sorcery; weapons, powers-they're only as good as the fighter."

Danny rose from where he fell with new fire in his eyes. "You really love your gadgets, huh? Let's just see what's so great about them!" The last thing Robin saw was a translucent blue (intangible) Danny flying head-on towards him. He felt the cold shudder like a blast of winter wind coming from inside him, but this time he also felt a small electric type shock of pain in his head that seemed to travel down his spine, into his heart, through his bloodstream. What followed next was indescribable; he would have thought it unpleasant if he didn't feel so... detached. He was seeing and hearing and touching things, but had no idea what they were. He was moving but had no idea why or how, but it didn't frighten or bother him. After what felt like a nanosecond, the feeling passed, leaving no more side effects than the lightheadedness after a high-speed rollercoaster ride. After a quick shake to refocus himself, Robin was ready to get back to the action. He raised his right hand to prepare for another bowstaff attack, but there was a problem.

"Huh?" The short staff he'd just been holding was gone. "Looking for this?" Danny called his attention above his head where he was spinning Robin's staff around in his hand.

Not losing his head even in that instant of surprise, Robin reached to his waist for his grappling hook as he said, "How did you..." but got no farther as he realized his utility belt was gone, too. "Lose something else?" Danny asked levitating down closer. "Try looking down," he added, nonchalantly dropping the staff for emphasis.

"What? Aaah!" Now Robin almost lost it. He'd been standing on the ground next to that boulder. How did he end up perched on a strong branch in a tree ten feet away? He hadn't even noticed he'd moved.

Looking around him, Robin started to ask, "How did I..." His phantom companion turned intangible with a smirk on his face, as if trying to give him a clue. Robin got the message. "What did you do to me?"

"Didn't see that coming did ya'?" Danny gloated, folding his arms and coming tangible again.

"I should have guessed," Robin replied, still too shocked to return the smile. "So you can possess people, huh?" he added, raising an eyebrow in suspicion at what he'd always seen as a dark ability.

"Well, the G-rated term is 'overshadowing,' " Danny air quoted for him.

"What did you do with...I mean, what did I... what happened to my weapons?" Robin requested.

"You mean these?" Danny replied blankly, holding up a handful of disk bombs.

One wide-eyed stare and a gasp of surprise later, the acrobat leaped for the ground a hair ahead of the explosions. He retrieved a bowstaff in each hand in one backflip, but hadn't rejoined them before two of his own bird-a-rangs sliced each of the halves in half.

"Okay, tell me this. Was it the smartest move to make your gadgets indestructible against everything except _the rest_ of your gadgets?" Danny wondered aloud.

Robin smiled confidently as he finally dropped the sticks of metal and assumed his combat stance. "Controlling your opponent so that their greatest strengths become your own... hmm, not a bad trick. But then again, every trick only works once."

* * *

"No, no, really, I understand. I'll make sure Mom and Dad won't worry about Danny. Whatever he needs to do, I've got him covered. Bye, Tucker." Jazz hung up before Tucker could even say, "Huh?" 

"Okay, that was _much _too easy," Sam said as Tucker repocketed his PDA. They were back in her basement. "Am I the only one wondering why Jazz has been acting so...uncharacteristically helpful lately?"

"Hey, better too easy than too hard," Tucker shrugged her question off. "So, what're we gonna do now? Wait here for Danny and his vigilante buddy?"

"_And _my parents? I'd rather get trapped in the Fenton thermos," Sam shot such a repulsive suggestion down. "Look, we called your parents and Jazz. Let's just get out of here and wait for Danny to call." Sam paused to pocket her cell phone, and the two sidekicks locked up the makeshift lair and left. It was the worst move they would ever regret for a looooooooooooong time.

* * *

Two teenagers, two average human teenagers, powerless and unguarded and vulnerable. _This is so easy, it almost seems below me..._a shadowy figure silently pondered as his single eye followed the girl down the street. Several identical red eyes burst into light in the darkness behind their master. _...Almost. It won't be long now._


End file.
